


The Twice Blessed's Trickster

by JCapasso



Category: Charmed (TV 1998), Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-02-09 16:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 31,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18642055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: Baby Wyatt didn't like being separated from his family while they dealt with the titans so he reached through time and space to find them some help in a recently dead trickster god.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trying something new with this one, so bear with me. 
> 
> In this story, the timelines are skewed a bit in that Loki's death in Unfinished Business coincides with the time that the charmed ones were fighting the Titans.

Wyatt was not happy being bustled away from his family with the little elf. All he knew was that something bad was threatening them and all their attention went towards that instead of him, so he reached out with his senses to find something to help and he sensed it. A powerful being in limbo, even more powerful than him, and he didn’t feel evil so Wyatt reached out with his senses and pulled. It was hard and he passed out right after, but he didn’t even realize that he was pulling him not just from limbo, but from another reality as well. No wonder the little guy was so tuckered out. 

Loki blinked in surprise as he saw the world solidifying itself around him again. He was dead. He knew he was dead. So how was he here and where was here? He looked around, finding himself in what seemed to be a nursery and he looked confused at the sleeping baby in the crib, sensing it’s power, but not familiar at all with the type of power. It was nothing he had ever felt before. He heard footsteps coming and snapped himself away. He needed to get his bearings here. 

Loki reappeared in what would have been his house in his time, but found an undisturbed forest in it’s place. So he definitely wasn’t in his world then. He had caught enough of a glimpse outside the window of the house he was in to know that the cars he saw were recent inventions and that house had been there for a few hundred years, which meant he was in a different reality, but how did he get here and why? He thought back to the powerful baby. Could he have brought him? But the question again was why? The more he thought the more questions he had than answers. One thing he did know was that getting back to his own reality wasn’t going to be easy, even if it was possible at all, so he set about recreating his house while he thought. 

Wyatt was woken up by the sound of a crash downstairs and his aunties yelling. His mommy left and he got scared so he called his new friend and pulled him here. Loki, once again, appeared in the same nursery, and looked at the baby who was now looking right back at him and he now knew for sure that this little being was responsible for him being here, both in this reality and in this house right now. This infant not only had some type of hold over him, but wanted something from him in this moment. He heard a crash from downstairs and sighed. Hopefully if he carried out this request, whatever it was, he could extricate himself from the child. 

Loki snapped himself downstairs to find three women dressed like ancient greeks, facing off against two men dressed the same. He couldn’t recognize any of the powers they were throwing around, but he knew that he was more powerful than all of them. He wondered for a moment which set he was supposed to be saving, but then saw the familial ties from the women to the boy so he stepped between the warring parties and held up his hand, stopping all the fire from both sides. 

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?” the woman who seemed to be the leader asked hostile, seeming unsure if she should be attacking him or not. 

“Loki. Norse god of mischief and chaos at your service, and apparently I’m here to save you.”

“Apparently?” another of the women asked suspiciously. 

“You would need to ask the infant upstairs why I’m really here, but I doubt you’ll get much coherent out of him at his age. I assume you wish me to destroy these things?” he gestured at the frozen men that had been attacking them. The third sister narrowed her eyes, just as suspiciously as her sisters, but nodded slowly, so Loki snapped his fingers and both of the men exploded. 

“How did you do that?” the lead sister asked, hands poised as if to flick a bug, seeming to think he would find such a gesture threatening.

“Yeah, we’re gods and they were kicking our asses,” another of them said. 

Loki couldn’t help himself. He started laughing. “Gods? Really? I’ve known infant gods with more power than you three have combined.” 

At that, another man came from the other room and inserted himself into the conversation. He could see the familial tie that he held with the infant that had such a hold on him as well, so assumed that he wouldn’t need to be destroyed, and learned that he was right when the sisters did not react badly to his presence. “How could you have seen gods? They have been extinct for thousands of years.”

Loki blinked at that. The gods were extinct in this world? That explained the lower power levels, but the fact that he could still feel power from mortals meant that their descendants must have survived, however diluted the blood. If the child upstairs was any indication, however, they would be making a comeback before too much longer. “And you claim to be one?” Another man asked stepping out of the shadows looking at him with a look of suspicion that made the rest of the group look trustworthy. Loki raised his eyebrows. This one was even more powerful than the child upstairs, though still no match for his own powers. “Yes. I am. Not of this world though, I don’t think. I believe the child summoned me from my reality into this one.”

“Why…how…” the blonde man sputtered. 

“He was obviously worried about his family and wanted some help for them. At least from what I could read of his wishes. How…I don’t have a clue. If I did, maybe I could find a way to get home. Now since I’ve done my job here, I’ll be going now.” He didn’t give anyone a chance to react before he snapped his fingers and disappeared. He had been almost finished with his house when the little brat had summoned him. 

The sisters, Leo, and Chris just stared at the spot where the strange man had disappeared. “What the hell was that?!” Phoebe asked irritated. 

“I…I don’t know…” Leo said, clearly unsettled. 

“It had a lot of power though. More than I’ve ever imagined in one being,” Chris added. 

“More than I would have imagined in ten beings,” Leo added warily. 

“So he’s more powerful than us? Even with us as gods?” Piper asked. Part of her wanted to be falling apart, but this new mystery had her distracted for now. 

Both men nodded. “Much more. More than all the elders combined even. I don’t even know how it’s possible,” Leo said. 

“Unless he was telling the truth. He is one of the gods of old,” Chris said nervously, both about what his presence here would mean, and about how the others would take the suggestion. 

“He would have to be tens of thousands of years old to have that kind of power,” Leo pointed out.

“Do you have a better explanation?” Chris asked. “The bigger question, I think, is how Wyatt brought him here? From another reality even if he’s to be believed. And the biggest question of all. Is he a threat?” Chris’ first thought, and greatest fear, was that this being was the cause of Wyatt turning evil. Of him grabbing as much power as he can. It would be reasonable. Being hurt by someone so much more powerful than him so young could do a lot of damage. 

“Those are very good questions,” Piper said irritably. “And I, for one, want some answers.”

“We all do, Piper, but I don’t have a clue where to begin looking for them,” Leo told her sadly. “In the meantime though, we need to get your power back where it belongs.”

Paige’s eyes widened. “Leo, no. What if this guy is a threat? We’ll need this extra power if he’s as powerful as you say.”

Leo shook his head. “You three are still nowhere near a match for him, Paige. If he is a threat, he won’t be beaten by power, whether as gods or as charmed ones. It’s time to give it up,” Leo said calmly, hoping they would listen. 

Once they gave up their powers, Leo sighed in relief and started to go return the urn to the heavens, but Piper grabbed his arm before he could go. “You’re coming back right?” she asked pointedly. When he hesitated, she snapped. “Damnit Leo. You had better come right back here after you drop that off or I swear to god…”

Leo winced. “I’ll come back,” he promised. He just couldn’t promise how long he would stay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the sake of this story we're gonna assume Paige's spell worked and Piper got her memory back.

Little Wyatt missed his daddy. His mommy was still around and great. He didn’t really understand why, but she seemed okay with Daddy being gone so he was okay too. As long as he had Mommy and his aunties he would be okay. After a while he heard them getting worried about something. He didn’t understand what it was, but it seemed really bad. He wondered if his new friend would help him. 

Loki was lying in bed, fast asleep when the baby appeared sitting on his bed in swirling blue lights. Wyatt huffed at the fact that his arrival hadn’t woken him up and his uncoordinated arms, in an attempt to wake him up, just smacked him in the face and all of a sudden he was flying through the air. 

Loki snapped awake as something hit him and reacted instinctively to the threat. When he saw the baby flying through the air, his heart nearly stopped and he disappeared and reappeared right beneath him and snatched him out of the air. “For crying out loud kid. Do you have a death wish?” The baby just gurgled at him and clapped his hands. Apparently he thought that was fun. Loki sighed and went to take the baby home. 

He went to the same nursery he remembered being called to before only to find a frantic mother there. He had plenty of experience with motherly instincts, and had no intention of being caught in that crossfire, so he quickly thrust the baby at her. “Here. I think this belongs to you.” 

She took the baby and quickly handed him off to one of her sisters who disappeared with him in bright swirling lights and turned back to Loki with her hands raised in the same offensive position as he had seen before. “What did you do to him?” she snarled. 

Loki raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I didn’t do anything to him,” he said, ignoring the whole throwing him across the room thing. “I was sleeping and he suddenly appeared in my bed, smacking me in the face so I brought him home.”

“I don’t believe you,” she snapped. 

“Regardless, that is what happened,” Loki told her with a shrug and found out what the hand thing was for as she tried to blow him up. It didn’t actually work, but he felt a little sting. “Ouch,” he said offended. “Fine, next time I won’t bring him home.” 

“You just stay away from my baby,” she said angrily as her other sister came back empty handed. 

“I would be more than happy to,” Loki told her starting to get irritated and at that moment a swirl of blue lights appeared again and the baby was back in his arms. Loki sighed. “It seems that he has other ideas, however.”

Piper narrowed her eyes at this guy. Could he be telling the truth? But why would Wyatt do this? That demonstration was pretty clear though. “Why?” 

Loki shrugged again. “Beats me. It’s not like he can just tell me what he wants. Last time he wanted my help though. Is there anything going on he could want my help with again?” he asked as he handed the baby back over to his mother. He wasn’t exactly happy about being at the beck and call of a little brat, but the sooner he did what the kid wanted the sooner he could be on his way. 

“Well, there is…” 

“Phobe!” Piper snapped. 

“What?” She asked defensively. “Apparently Wyatt trusts him and if he can help…” Piper gritted her teeth and nodded slightly, clearly not happy with the situation so Phoebe turned back to Loki. “Wyatt’s father is missing and since we can’t find him, apparently something is holding him prisoner behind some heavy shielding.” 

Loki tilted his head. That would be something the kid would want help with. “Fine. Do you have anything for me to go on?” 

Paige shrugged. “All we know is he was supposed to be up in elderland, but never got there.”

“Elderland?” he asked confused. 

“Where the elders live and the whitelighters work from?” Piper said as though it should be obvious. 

Loki shook his head. “I have no idea what elders or whitelighters are,” he told them frustrated. 

Piper sighed. “Never mind. We’ll find him ourselves,” she snapped. 

Loki rolled his eyes. “Look lady. I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here, but until I do what the kid wants, he’s not gonna leave me alone, so can the attitude and explain better.” That just got him another attempt to blow him up and he glared at her. 

Phoebe realized that someone was going to have to do something or this thing might just decide that it was easier to kill them all then help them. “Piper, honey. Why don’t you take Wyatt down to get something to eat and we’ll talk to…Loki was it?” She got a nod from the guy so apparently she remembered right. Piper clearly didn’t want to go, but finally picked Wyatt up and stormed out with one last glare. Phoebe turned back to Loki. “Pardon her temper. She’s dealing with a lot right now. But you shouldn’t bait her like that either.” 

“Bait her? I return her brat after he wakes me up, offer to help her get her husband back, and just get attitude and blown up for my trouble? I think I’m well within my right to get a little irritated,” Loki snapped. 

The other sister snorted amusedly. “He’s kinda got a point there.”

“Paige…” Phoebe said warningly before turning back to Loki. “Still. So Elders and whitelighters. Whitelighters are like guardian angels for magical beings and Elders are their bosses. They sit up in the clouds and watch over us and all that crap.” 

Loki tilted his head as he thought and reached out his senses and yeah. He could sense angel blood. It was heavily diluted but it was there, so he assumed that these elders and whitelighters were descendants of the angels which meant they were probably staging out of heaven. He nodded and disappeared, reappearing in the middle of heaven, but completely cloaked. They likely wouldn’t take kindly to his presence and these pale imitations weren’t nearly strong enough to sense him. He reached out, looking for the taste of the man he had met before but he found nothing. He reappeared back in the nursery, interrupting Phoebe and Paige’s conversation. “He’s not up there.”

Paige rolled her eyes. “We know that. They told us that.”

“And you didn’t consider that they may be lying to throw you off the trail?” Loki scoffed. “If they are anything like their ancestors, they probably don’t like one of their own having such close ties to mere mortals. It wouldn’t be out of character for them to lie about it.”

Phoebe tilted her head curiously. He did have a point there. “Their ancestors?” 

Loki shrugged. It couldn’t hurt to tell her. “Best I can tell they are descended from those I know as angels. Their blood and powers are diluted heavily, but it’s there. As I said though, he is not, which means I have other places to check.”

“Wait!” Paige called before he could disappear again and when he turned to look at her. “I just thought of something we can use to scry with. Give you an idea where to look at least.” 

Loki wanted to snap that he didn’t need weak witch tools, but held it back in time. If it worked it would give him something at least so he shrugged. “Okay. You can give that a shot while I start looking. I don’t want to lose time if it doesn’t work. If it works, just call me,” he said as he disappeared. Loki had started his search in other planes since their scrying wouldn’t work there. He had already checked hell, or as they seemed to call it these days, the underworld. He was in the process of checking the spiritual plane as he heard Paige’s call. 

When he arrived, he saw the other man from when he was here last time. The more powerful one and he arrived to hear him say, “…it’s pointing to the middle of the Indian ocean!”

“There must be something there. I trust Wyatt,” he heard Paige reply and he walked over to look where the crystal fell. 

“This is crazy!” the man protested. 

“On the contrary,” Loki interjected just for both of them to nearly jump out of their skins. 

“You! What the hell are you doing here!?” he yelled. 

Loki just ignored him and continued on. “Where I come from that is the location of Valhalla. It stands to reason that it is the same here. I’ll be back with him shortly.” 

“Wait, if you’re right, you can’t just stroll into Valhalla…” the man protested. 

Loki snorted in amusement. “I am a Norse god. I was there when they built Valhalla and as a Norse god, I have the right to visit there anytime I wish and no one can stop me.”


	3. Chapter 3

No sooner than Loki disappeared, Chris spun towards Phoebe and Paige. “What the hell? You’re actually working with him?!”

Paige rolled her eyes while Phoebe tried to talk him down. “Relax Chris. It’s not like it was our idea. Wyatt was the one who went and got him.” 

“Wait…what? Wyatt?” Chris felt the fear wash over him. Was it any wonder Wyatt turned out evil with influences like this. 

“Yeah, apparently he heard us talking about Leo being missing and he orbed to Loki. When Loki brought him back he kept orbing to him until he agreed to help us. What were we supposed to do?” Paige asked. 

“Oh I don’t know. Keep your nephew away from murderous gods would be a good start,” he snapped. 

Piper came back in at this point with Wyatt on her hip. “Murderous?” she asked suspiciously. 

“Look. I did some research on Loki after what happened with the titans and it wasn’t good. Let’s just say that there are many that believe that he’s the basis of the depiction of Lucifer,” Chris told them. 

Piper gasped and pulled Wyatt closer to her. “Why would my baby summon the devil? No, no. You have to be wrong. He would never bring anything evil into the house. You see how he reacts to evil,” she protested. 

Chris shook his head. “Okay so that wasn’t the only opinion of Loki, but the fact that it was an opinion at all means we should at the very least be extremely cautious, don’t you think? What if he’s the one after Wyatt?” 

Phoebe shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, if he were, why would he have brought him back so quickly? Wyatt was gone for less than five minutes. Not to mention, if he’s as powerful as he seems, he could have us out of the way and get Wyatt in the blink of an eye if he wanted to.”

“What do you sense from him?” Paige asked. 

“Well he’s not evil for sure,” Phoebe told them. 

“You’re positive?” Chris asked suspiciously. 

Phoebe nodded. “I don’t know if he’s the best influence in the world, but I don’t sense any evil in him. He’s fond of Wyatt, but that annoys him. Like he doesn’t want to be. I can tell he’s rather off-balance, but that’s to be expected being in a whole new world where your entire species is extinct and everyone you’ve ever known and loved is gone. There’s also a lot of sadness and anger underneath and that could be why on that too.” 

“Anger at Wyatt for pulling him here?” Piper asked worriedly. 

Phoebe shook her head. “No. Not that I can tell. Like I said. He’s fond of Wyatt and if there were anger mixed with that fondness I’d be able to tell.”

“How can you be sure?” Chris asked skeptically. “Empathy is pretty new to you remember.” 

Phoebe shook her head. “I know. But I’ve had feelings my whole life, you know. I know what they mean. The hard part is trying to tune out other people’s feelings. Getting them is easy.”

“Okay, but still. Come on people. There may be conflicting opinions of him in the books, but all of them agree on one thing. He’s a trickster and can’t be trusted,” Chris tried to reason with them. 

Piper nodded. “I agree that we can’t trust him blindly. Hell, I’m not sure I trust him much at all, but for the moment, Wyatt seems to be the one calling the shots here and him I do trust. I don’t think he would send Loki after Leo if he didn’t think he would bring him back.”

 

Loki appeared at the entry point to Valhalla. He could have appeared anywhere on the island, but he figured it would be best to make as few waves as possible. He didn’t know why they would hold someone who wasn’t in their purview, but until he did, it would be best to do things by the book. Not long after he appeared, he found himself being attacked by about a dozen warriors and he narrowed his eyes. Not the welcome he was expecting. He snapped his fingers and exploded them all, knowing that they would simply reform later. They are spirits after all. 

When he noticed the group of Valkyries running up just behind the warriors, he froze two and grabbed the leader by the throat and shoved her against a tree. He knew that playing nice would get him nowhere with them, especially with his station. He was careful with her though. He could tell by first glance that she couldn’t take the kind of abuse that the Valkyrie of his world could. She was far weaker. Once he had her subdued, he growled, “How dare your warriors attack a god. What do you have to say for yourself?” 

He loosened his grip on her throat enough that she could talk. “The gods are all dead…” she said defensively. 

“Not all of them. Not anymore,” Loki snapped. “Take me to your leader.” When she nodded he let her go and unfroze the others, following them through the portal that she opened. 

She introduced the leader as Freyja and Loki held back his snort of derision. This woman was nothing like the Freyja he knew. He did raise an eyebrow at her though and she knew his question. “Freyja is as much of a title as a name for us these days. The leader is always called Freyja. Can I ask how you are here? We were under the impression that all of the gods were dead?”

Loki considered her for a moment. If there was anyone he could tell his secret to it was her. He cut his eyes to the other Valkyrie in the room and she nodded before dismissing them. Once they were alone, he said, “I come from another reality. In my reality, the gods were never killed.”

“I see,” she said as she tilted her head at him. “And why have you come to us? To renew our relations?” They had long ago had a treaty with the Norse gods, but it had fallen to the wayside when there were no more gods to enforce it. It didn’t have an expiration date however, so they would still be held to it if this god so chose. 

Loki hadn’t even considered that. As the only god in the world, he had sole reign over the Valkyrie. He wondered if there were any other situations like that. He would have to think on that later when he had more time. “Not right now. We can discuss that another time. I’m here because it has come to my attention that you are holding someone that you shouldn’t be.”

She blanched. “I apologize, my lord. We were asked to hold him as a favor to one to whom we owe a great debt.”

“What did he do to garner a debt great enough to take such a risk?” Loki asked curiously. 

“I do not know the details, but he came from the future bearing a coin that proved that he had saved the life of one of our sisters and we were honor bound to allow him to claim the debt,” she said apologetically, obviously fearful of being punished. 

“Honoring your debts is a good thing, though you should take more care in the future as to how you honor them. You have held the elder long enough. It is time to release him. I will take him home to his family,” Loki told her. Granted he would have been well within his rights to punish her for such a transgression, but he saw no need to. “Who is it that asked you to do this?” 

“He was from the future. A whitelighter who called himself Chris,” she told him all she knew. 

Loki smirked. He had something now. He would have to consider how best to use this information. He nodded at her and she called for her Valkyries to come back in and release the elder to his care. Loki took Leo’s arm and snapped them back to the house, just in time to hear “I don’t think he would send Loki after Leo if he didn’t think he would bring him back.”

“And back he is,” Loki said with a smirk, letting go of the elder who hadn’t quite found his footing yet after what he found to be an odd form of travel. He staggered a bit but didn’t fall and stepped forward to pull Piper into a hug only to find himself blown up. Loki snickered. So that’s what that was supposed to do. He caught Chris’ eye and gave him a knowing look and he watched the young whitelighter blanche. 

“Can I talk to you?” he asked pulling Loki into the next room as Leo and Piper got involved in a fight.


	4. Chapter 4

Chris held his tongue while Phoebe walked by heading upstairs with Wyatt before turning to Loki. “You know.”

“I know a lot of things kid. You’re gonna have to be more specific.” Loki was enjoying this immensely. 

“You know who sent Leo to Valhalla,” Chris said, wording it to not give himself away if he was wrong. 

“Sure do,” Loki said with a smirk. “A Valkyrie can’t keep secrets from one of her gods.” 

Chris sighed. He knew he was caught. His mission here was over unless he could convince this god to keep it to himself. “What can I do to keep you from telling anyone?” 

Loki raised an eyebrow. So he wanted to bargain did he? “First, I want you to lay off me when I’m here, because I have no doubt that your brother has every intention of summoning me again at some point.” 

“My…brother…” Chris sucked in a sharp breath. So he knew that too. 

Loki laughed. This kid was so much fun. “Like I said. I know a lot of things. I assume that is part of the secret we are bargaining for, given your reaction?” Chris nodded with a grimace. He hated that someone knew. “Okay then. Second thing I want is information…”

“I’m not betraying anyone,” Chris said heatedly. 

“Relax Cujo. Not asking you to. I need information on this world if I’m to remain here.” 

“You’re staying?” Chris asked curiously. “You can’t get back?” 

“I might could get back to where I came from, but considering that I was dead, I’m not in any rush for that. Getting back to my own reality alive out of the infinite number of realities available though…not likely.” He figured he knew enough of this guy’s secrets, he could let out a minor one of his own. Might help engender him some trust at the very least. 

“Wait, Wyatt brought you back from the dead AND from another reality?” he asked incredulously. 

“Yes and no. The planes of death are all linked. I was dead, but not crossed over which is the only reason he could reach me. When I sensed something pulling me back, I lent my power to the effort. He wouldn’t have been able to achieve it otherwise. But that’s beside the point. We were bargaining for keeping your secrets. And keeping my own is part of that bargain too of course.” 

Chris sighed. He didn’t see much of a choice here. There wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to keep these particular secrets. “Okay, fine. What else?” 

“That’s all I’ve got for now. But I reserve the right to add more later.” 

“Okay, now for my conditions,” Chris told him. 

Loki raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Your conditions?” 

Chris nodded. “Some things are more important to me than my own secrets.” 

“I’m listening,” Loki told him. He had no intention of agreeing to anything he didn’t want to. He knew full well that he had the upper hand, but he would hear the kid out. 

“You stay away from Wyatt…”

“I can’t promise that. He’s the one who comes to me and calls me. And somehow we seem to have become linked when he pulled me here so unfortunately ignoring him is impossible,” Loki told him with a grimace. He hated being at the beck and call of an infant. 

Chris sighed. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. “Okay fine. Then you keep as much distance as you can and don’t influence him in any way you can’t help.” 

Loki tilted his head curiously. There must be more to this than he knew. “Only if you tell me why.” 

Chris sighed again. “If you agree that this is part of my secrets you’re keeping,” he finally stipulated after a long pause. When Loki nodded, he continued. “In my future, Wyatt turns evil. That’s what I came back in time to stop. So I intend to keep any evil influences away from him.”

Loki considered the matter for a moment. He knew that compared to him the child didn’t have a whole lot of power, but he was easily the most powerful being in this world and could destroy everything if given a chance. The only one who could match Wyatt was the brother standing right in front of him and he wouldn’t envy the kid having to fight his own brother. Which brought up the question. “So you think I’m evil?” 

“Yes,” Chris said bluntly. 

Loki laughed. “Oh kid, you have no idea. I’m not evil at all. But nor am I good. I am a neutral god. Dedicated to preserving the balance.”

Chris considered that for a moment. IF he believed it, that would mean… “So how do Wyatt and I fit into this balance?” 

Loki thought for a moment before answering, “In many ways the balance in this world is so much more precarious than where I come from, but in other ways it’s much more stable. I can sense a mirror world contributing to that, which means there is a lot more leeway before I have to interfere. I can’t allow either side to be completely destroyed in this world, but there is plenty of room for one or the other to get the upper hand.” 

“So if someone were to destroy all good in the entire world except for a small pocket of survivors dwindling by the day…” 

“Then I would have to step in,” Loki told him. 

“And do what?” Chris asked. 

“That would depend on the situation,” Loki told him, but then gave an example that he suspected Chris was asking about. “Say there was a powerful ruler on the evil side that removing would help the situation, I would do so. Either by killing him or by stripping his powers and imprisoning him until he could be reformed. Then I would help this pocket of survivors take the world back and restore the balance.” 

“And if you knew that something was happening that would cause it to come to that, but it wasn’t there yet?” Chris asked. 

“I wouldn’t be compelled to do anything until it reached that point, but I could possibly be persuaded to,” Loki told him. Honestly, anything that saved him more work later, he would probably agree to pretty easily, but no reason to make it easy for the kid. 

“So if Wyatt were to turn evil, you could stop it before it got that far?” Chris asked. 

“I /could/, yes.”

“How? By stripping his powers?” Chris asked. 

“That would be an option,” Loki told him. 

Chris just nodded. It wasn’t to that point yet, but if it got there, he would ask Loki to do just that. No point owing him any more than he needed to at this point. “So I can be sure that you won’t influence him towards evil?” he asked just to be sure. 

Loki nodded. “You have my word on that.” 

“Okay, my final condition. No hurting or killing my family, or any semi-lethal or potentially lethal tricks on them,” Chris told him. 

Loki rolled his eyes. This kid really didn’t trust easily. At least he didn’t ask for no tricks at all. He would never make that promise, but he could easily promise this. “Deal. So we’re good now?” 

“Yeah. We’re good. But I really should go before they get any more suspicious…”

“Okay. Just remember you owe me information. Call me when you have some time alone,” Loki warned. It went without saying that he would start spilling secrets if he didn’t get a call in a reasonable time. When Chris nodded, Loki disappeared. 

 

Chris went back into the conservatory to find Piper sitting on the couch crying and Leo nowhere to be found. He could sense Phoebe upstairs still with Wyatt and Paige in the kitchen, probably making tea. Chris tried to stay stoic, but couldn’t help but be moved by his mother’s tears so he walked over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder only to have it slapped away. “Don’t touch me. This is all your fault,” she snapped. 

Chris took a step back and wiped the pain off his face as quickly as it appeared. “How is it my fault?” he asked irritated, hoping they hadn’t figured out he sent Leo to Valhalla anyway. 

“It’s your fault that he’s an elder now. You coached him right into it. You destroyed my marriage, and you dare come in here and try to comfort me over it?” 

Chris swallowed around the lump in his throat as he answered, “All I tried to do was save as many elders as I could, and save you. Leo is the one who chose the elders over his family. He could have turned it down, but he didn’t, so don’t blame me for that,” Chris said as he orbed out. Apparently he would get some time alone to call Loki sooner than he expected.


	5. Chapter 5

Chris orbed back to P3 and took a few minutes to pull himself together before calling Loki. The quicker he could get this done, the quicker he could get back to his research and go kill a few demons. Loki suddenly appeared in front of him and looked around at the accommodations before curling up his nose. Chris ignored the expression and motioned for him to take a seat. 

“I think I’ll make my own thanks,” Loki said, snapping his fingers and creating a large plush recliner in the middle of the room before plopping down in it. Nothing in here even qualified as furniture in his mind. 

Chris bit back the comment on the tip of his tongue and sat down on his own rickety uncomfortable chair. “So what do you want to know?” 

“First, what happened to the higher powers here?” 

Chris looked confused. “You mean the elders?” 

Loki shook his head. “No. The elders are little more than children. I mean the gods, the angels, the demons.” 

“Demons are still around,” Chris pointed out. 

Loki chuckled. “Not the way I knew them. I spent some time in the underworld when I was looking for your father. These are halfbreeds with only a fraction of the power of their ancestors.”

That brought up a whole load of questions, but before any of that… “Leo,” he said pointedly. 

“Pardon?” 

“His name is Leo. They aren’t my parents here. And he was never my father in anything but name anyway,” Chris told him. 

Loki smirked. Looks like he wasn’t the only one with Daddy issues. “That why you sent him to Valhalla?” 

Chris winced as a memory came to his mind. The memory of the elders, including his father, being slaughtered with Excalibur and no one having any clue how to protect themselves from the sword. He shook the memory away, and lied, “Obviously. But anyway, So the demons are less powerful and you call the elders children? Wouldn’t they be angels?” 

Loki shook his head. He would allow the change of subject for now, but he could have spotted that lie a mile away. “No. They’re obviously descended from angels, but the blood has been diluted so far as to be a pale imitation of what they once were.” He smirked again before adding the bombshell. “Just like what you call witches are descendants of the gods.” 

“Wait what?” Chris asked incredulously. “How is that possible?” 

Loki laughed. “Well that’s easy. God and mortal have sex, have a baby. Baby and mortal have sex, have another baby and so on and so forth, until the powers of the gods have been reduced to parlor tricks. Same way the angels and demons went I suppose. Which means that something big must have happened to kill them all, leaving their distant descendants to take their places.”

“Huh. Well I’m not really sure. That was a long time ago. Everyone these days thinks those stories are all legends. The elders tend to keep it that way. The only reason the sisters and I know the truth is because of the titans. As far as what happened to them, I could only guess,” Chris told him. 

“Then guess,” Loki said. He could make a few guesses himself, but he wasn’t as familiar with this world, so his would be less likely to be correct.

“Well as you can guess, I did some research on the old gods after we met you. And I did some in the future as well after I heard the story of the titans. The last time there was anything mentioned about them other than their worshippers was around 1150. The time of the crusades. I figure something about the crusades caused a lot of infighting and they ended up killing each other off somehow.” 

Loki considered that for a moment. “That seems plausible,” he finally said. 

Chris could see all the thoughts going through the god’s head as he parsed out the possibilities. “Seriously? That’s all I get? ‘That seems plausible’ Really?”

“What more did you want?” Loki asked. 

“You obviously have some idea how that went,” Chris prompted. 

“I do, but why do you care? It was so long ago and not related to you at all,” Loki asked confused.

“Well, for one thing, I’m dying of curiosity. Besides, you said that we were descended from gods so it is kinda related to me,” Chris told him.

Loki looked at him for a moment considering, and for some reason felt the urge to answer him. He wondered for a moment if the younger brother had as much of a hold on him as the older baby one, but it wasn’t the same kind of urge. He could relate to the kid’s curiosity. He himself was an immensely curious creature. Loki decided to test him. Anyone could be curious. Having the intelligence to see possibilities within the answers you get was the hard part. “The crusades in his world did prompt a lot of fighting amongst my people. There were factions that wanted to help their people, those that advocated not getting involved, and those that wanted to take the fight to the angels. In my world the faction that advocated non-interference won.” 

“So you all just hid while your people were slaughtered?” Chris asked incredulously. 

“Hey, I never said I was part of that faction,” Loki said defensively. “But when the council ruled that was final.” 

“So which faction were you a part of then?” Chris asked curiously. 

“I wanted to help the people,” Loki told him. 

“Not take the war to the angels?” 

“If it would have done any good, then I would have, but the crusades were started and run by the mortals based on what they thought their god wanted. The angels had nothing to do with it beyond being the figureheads, and killing them wouldn’t have solved anything,” Loki told him. 

“So you, the great trickster, actually followed the rules and didn’t get involved despite wanting to?” Chris asked skeptically. 

Loki smirked. “I didn’t say that. There was plenty I could do without directly interfering. There are plenty of ways to walk the line without actually crossing it. And I wasn’t the only one that did. Otherwise none of our people would have survived, but enough did to keep the traditions alive and pass on their knowledge.” 

“Okay so back to this world then, if a different faction won…say the one that wanted to take the fight to the angels…would they have been a match for the gods?” 

Loki nodded. “The angels were different than the gods in many ways. They were a different species, but still had similar power levels.”

“So you think they destroyed each other? But that would still have left the demons. They wouldn’t have gotten involved. They would have just waited for the two sides to kill each other off and then take the world. That would have totally destroyed the balance though, and I bet the gods knew it too. So I wonder if the neutral gods like you wiped them out while the others were fighting the angels so they couldn’t take over,” Chris talked it out with a faraway look as he considered the possibilities. 

“That was exactly my thinking. Granted they couldn’t have gotten all the demons, but the higher and mid-level demons would have been enough. The lower level demons wouldn’t have been able to get topside without help, so the world was safe until they figured out a way and it would have taken them long enough to find a way for some of the power of the world to recover. And I would bet that the mirror world I sensed here was the doing of one of those neutral gods as well when it was obvious that we would all be destroyed in order to have something to help with the balance when we were gone,” Loki told him. 

Chris nodded. “That all makes perfect sense. So what else do you want to know about this world?” 

“What are the power structures like?” 

“Well on the side of good, you have the elders who are in control, they command the whitelighters who watch over witches and other good magical beings. Each witch or whitelighter-to-be is assigned a whitelighter and the whitelighters have dozens of charges all over the world. When a good enough soul dies selflessly, they become a whitelighter and continue the cycle. On the side of evil, they are fractured now that the source is dead, but there are all different types of demons, with different powers and needs. Then there are darklighters which are the balance to whitelighters and able to kill them. Then there are warlocks which are the balance to witches. They are mortals like us with the same type of powers as witches and just use them for evil. They are at the lowest end of the totem pole like witches.” 

Loki nodded through the explanations. “So if I plan to make a place for myself in this world I would have to go through the elders to do it.” 

“Are you going to?” Chris asked worriedly. He didn’t think anyone would stand for that easily and worried about the state of the world. 

“Probably not. Not unless it’s necessary I should say. I wasn’t a part of the hierarchy in my old world either. Too much drama and responsibility for my taste.” He pretended not to notice the sigh of relief from Chris, and figured he had enough for the moment. “Well I suppose I should let you get on with whatever you were doing. I’ll be back if I have any more questions.” 

“See you later,” Chris said, surprised to find that he was almost looking forward to it.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a couple weeks before Loki got another visit from Wyatt. Thankfully his woman of the day had already left and he was dressed again. Just as thankfully, he was sitting so didn’t have to worry as much about catching him because he was caught completely off guard when the child appeared in his lap. He could tell the baby was terrified though and wondered what had happened to cause such a reaction. Before he could get up and take him home to see, there were two other men standing in the room. “Give us the child,” one of them ordered. 

“Why?” Loki asked, shifting so Wyatt was on his hip so he had a free hand to blast them if needed and he shifted his hips so that Wyatt was as far from them as possible and he was between them. 

“He must be erased,” the other one said. 

“Again, why?” Loki asked as he studied them. “I can see that you are neutral like me, and you must be able to see that you are no match for my power, so the only chance you have of getting this child is to convince me that it’s necessary. Capice?” 

The two men looked nervously at each other before nodding. They could both see the truth in his words. If it came to a fight they would lose and badly. Perhaps his neutrality could work in their favor as well. “We are the cleaners. When magic is exposed to the world, we clean it up. He has exposed magic in a major way.” 

“Well? Then do your job and clean it up,” Loki told them. That wasn’t good enough reason to erase a child in his opinion. 

“We have, but he will do it again,” the cleaners tried to reason with him. 

Loki narrowed his eyes at them. He was more than familiar with the situation. They used to have the same problem with baby gods when they snuck away to the mortal world. Never were any of them killed for it though. “Then you will clean it up again. That is your job, is it not. I would imagine that killing babies wouldn’t be in the job description for a neutral being.”

“That is not the point. We are too few to keep cleaning up after messes of this magnitude. We have been instructed to remove the irritant.” 

“The /irritant/ as you call him is an innocent child. Leave. You have no business here. If you insist on taking the easy way out, then I will be responsible for him. I will clean up any messes he makes. You have no further business with him or his family. Understood?” Loki said harshly, letting a fireball light up in his free hand as a further threat.

The cleaner’s eyes widened and the disappeared without another word, so Loki extinguished the fireball and went to take Wyatt home. He was definitely interested in finding out exactly what happened that was so big though. He reappeared in the living room where he sensed the mother. “Here. I believe this belongs to you again,” he went to hand Wyatt over, but stopped when he saw the confused look. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have any children…” Piper considered whether this guy was a threat or not and would have blown him up if not for the fact that he was holding a baby. 

Loki tilted his head and looked more closely and he could see that their memories of the child were erased and he groaned. Stupid cleaners. He waved a hand in her face and restored the memories and he knew she was back when the tears hit her eyes. “Oh my god. How could I forget my baby!? I’m a horrible mother!”

Loki let go of the baby when he was nearly ripped from his arms by his mother. “It’s not your fault. Your memories were erased by the cleaners. I got rid of them though. From now on, his messes are mine to clean up since they apparently think getting rid of an innocent baby is easier than doing their jobs.”

To say Loki was surprised when he suddenly had an armful of crying woman as she hugged him tightly. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I can never repay you…” 

Loki hugged her back tentatively, patting her back. “It’s okay. It’s all okay now,” he tried futilely to calm her down. He really wasn’t any good at this. He was relieved when one of her sisters walked in. Phoebe he thought they called her. When she looked confused at the sight that met her, he waved a hand at her too and restored her memories. 

“Oh my god! Wyatt!” she screeched as she rushed towards them, prompting Piper to let go of him and hug her. 

Loki breathed a sigh of relief that it was over now and straightened his shirt. He knew he had a few more people’s memories to restore and he set off to find them. He started with the third sister who immediately rushed home from her job, and then to the young witchlighter who was probably rather confused as to why he had come from the future at the moment. As soon as his memories were restored, he grabbed Loki’s arms in a panic. “Wyatt! Is he okay? Please tell me he’s okay!” 

“He’s fine. The cleaners almost got him but then he orbed to me and I took care of it. Just know his messes are mine to clean up now so make sure to call me if he exposes magic so I can take care of it.”

Chris was also overcome with relief and hugged Loki tight. Loki blinked in shock before hugging the young man back. At least this was much more comfortable than being hugged by his mother. He, at least, wasn’t crying and babbling at him. That and it didn’t last as long. Just after Loki returned the hug, Chris pulled back, trying to hide his blush. “Thank you,” he said seriously. I should go…” he disappeared in a wash of orbs before even finishing the sentence. 

Loki rolled his eyes, and set out to find the last person he knew of that needed his memories restored, before finding out from the family who else he needed to visit. This one involved going up to heaven though, so he stayed cloaked while he restored the memories and disappeared right after the now frantic father, going back to the house where everyone was now gathered. “Okay so I got all your memories back. Anyone else I need to get?” 

Leo looked at the god, shocked that he would be so nice and help them so much and he was completely speechless. Paige, however, was not. “Thank you, Loki. Really. Um… Darrel and Sheila for sure…anyone else?”

Leo found his voice in that moment, “Should probably do the rest of the elders and whitelighters too, if that’s not too much…” 

“Why?” Piper asked. “They never liked the idea of you having a family anyway. Why not let them think they won?” 

“Well for one thing, it’ll be hard to explain when I want to come visit him. Plus they will notice him eventually anyway, and if they don’t remember that they gave us permission to break the rules…” 

Piper sighed. “Yeah okay, fine.” 

Loki sighed. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. “Okay, how about we do this. I’ll put the memory restoring spell in an object and let you pass it around to anyone who needs it. Sound good?” 

Leo nodded. “That would be acceptable. But why are you doing this? What do you get out of it?” 

“Well for one thing, as a neutral being, the idea of any neutral beings erasing an innocent child from existing, I find highly offensive.”

“You said for one thing. That means there are more,” Phoebe pointed out. 

Loki had a look of pain cross his face for a moment before he wiped it away. “Sorry kiddos. That’s all you’re getting from me. But I have to wonder, what the hell happened?”

Piper blushed bright red. “He might have…maybe…conjured a little…um…dragon,” she said sheepishly. 

Loki’s eyes widened as he fought the urge to laugh. “How little of a dragon?” 

“Well…not very little at all…very big actually,” Piper replied. 

“Big? You call that big? It was the size of a skyscraper,” Paige added incredulously. 

That was the last straw for Loki who burst into laughter. “This isn’t funny,” Leo said angrily. 

Loki just laughed harder. “Yeah…it is…”

“It almost lost us Wyatt,” an irritated Phoebe told him. 

Loki sobered slightly, but he was still clearly amused. “Don’t worry. That won’t happen again. I made it clear to the cleaners that he’s my problem from now on and I have plenty of experience cleaning up those kinds of messes.”

“You do?” Chris asked curiously. 

“Oh yes. My oldest son once turned all of the oceans into fresh water, killing every creature in the ocean and destroying the whole ecosystem. It happens. Babies will be babies,” he said with a wistful look before he realized and cleared his face. “Anyway, yeah. The cleaners won’t be bothering him or any of you anymore.” 

“You can’t do that. The cleaners have a job to do,” Leo bristled. 

“And I can do the job better than they can without sacrificing innocent babies to do it,” Loki snapped. 

“How did you get them to agree to it?” Piper asked worriedly. 

“They can sense my power just as much as elders and whitelighters can. They knew that I could destroy them if they didn’t and I made it more than clear that I would if they touched a hair on the brat’s head.”

Piper almost bristled at his calling of her son a brat, but then everything else he said registered. He would have killed for her son, and that earned him a pass just this once. She still had to say it, but it wasn’t as heated as it would have been. “He’s not a brat.”

Loki chuckled. “Of course he is. All kids are brats. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have their redeeming qualities too.” No one knew what to say to that so Loki just snapped his fingers and created a small golden ball with runes and sigils covering it. “Just hand this to anyone who needs to remember. No promises that it won’t bring up any repressed memories in their subconscious too though.” Once he handed it over he left before anyone could say anything else.


	7. Chapter 7

“Well that was enlightening,” Phoebe said once Loki was gone. 

“How so?” Paige asked curiously, knowing that Phoebe meant something regarding her power of empathy. 

“Well first, he was more than offended at the idea that the cleaners would get rid of a baby. He was…incensed would be a better word. And when I asked him for his other reasons, he was in so much pain. The kind that can only be explained by losing someone important. Judging by his feelings when he mentioned his son, it was probably him. He is also far more protective of Wyatt now, and is starting to get attached to him,” Phoebe told them. 

“I still wish we knew more about him. I don’t like people with that much power and are so mysterious,” Piper said. Chris’ lips twitched a little at that, and Piper happened to notice. “What?” she snapped. 

Chris looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment before he realized they were waiting for an answer. “Well…I was just wondering…how many people feel that way about you three,” he said with a wince. 

Phoebe tilted her head in thought. “You know…he might have a point. It’s not like we’re an open book either.”

“Yeah, but I’m not involved with their babies,” Piper pointed out. 

Phoebe nodded. “That is a point too.”

“Maybe I could talk to him…” Chris offered. 

“Like you’re any better?” Piper snapped. “You won’t tell us anything about yourself either.”

“Hey, I never said I couldn’t tell you anything about me. Just not about the future. I can’t tell you /everything/ about me, but I could tell you some. And it’s not like I don’t have a good reason. You /know/ the rules of time-travel,” Chris told them with a weary sigh. 

Phoebe and Paige nodded, but Piper and Leo still glared at him. Their protective instincts over their child wouldn’t allow them to accept that, but Phoebe and Paige did, and it was Phoebe who answered his initial question. “If you think you can get him to open up a little, please do, Chris. Thanks.” She completely ignored the glare from her older sister, but smiled at the nod from Chris. 

“So you said you can tell us about you as long as it doesn’t give away the future?” Paige asked. Chris looked at her and nodded suspiciously. “Okay, do you have any siblings?” 

“Two. An older brother and a younger sister,” Chris told them. If they were going to bother to get to know him he would tell them as much as he could. 

“What are their names?” Phoebe asked. 

“I can’t tell you that,” he said apologetically. 

“What future consequences could that possibly have,” Piper scoffed. 

“My older brother has already been born and my little sister’s name is an old family name, so from that you could find out who my family is and interfere in their life in ways you wouldn’t have otherwise, which could cause severe changes. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t be curious to meet them,” Chris explained. 

Phoebe and Paige suddenly realized just what kind of burden their whitelighter was currently living under. Having to consider those kinds of ramifications for every little thing he said would drive anyone to a vow of silence. “What’s your favorite color?” Paige asked. 

“Green,” Chris said with a smile. “I was so into Green as a kid that my room could have doubled as a movie studio. I even convinced my mom to let me paint my furniture green. Of course I didn’t realize until much later that the paint she gave me was washable so it was easy to restore back to the original colors.” 

Phoebe smiled. This was exactly what they needed. A chance to get to know their whitelighter. So he was limited as to how much he could say. They could still find out plenty. “So you and your mom were close?” 

This time Phoebe noticed the wave of pain that washed over his face. “The closest. I don’t like talking about her though.” Mostly because she’s currently looking at me like she wants to blow me up. 

“Okay, what about your siblings. Were you close with them?” Paige asked. 

“My brother and I were attached at the hip. We were best friends and did everything together. My little sister, I loved dearly, but we were never as close as my brother and I. She was too much younger than us and we spent most of our time thinking of her as a little pest,” he smiled wistfully. “But she was still great.”

“You’re talking like you’re never gonna see them again. Surely when you go back to your time…” Piper said.

Chris looked away so no one would see the tears in his eyes. “I can’t talk about that. I gotta go.” He orbed away before anyone could say anything else. 

Phoebe sighed. “Great going Piper. We were finally getting him to open up a little bit.”

“And tell us nothing useful,” Piper pointed out. “Who cares what his favorite color is and how many siblings he has?” 

“Maybe not you, but consider this, the more comfortable he is with us the better chance that he’ll let something slip. Not to even mention the fact that he’s here in a different time, without any support from anyone. What does it hurt to be nice?” Phoebe snapped. 

“And if he’s here to hurt my son?” Piper asked. 

“I’m not saying trust him completely. I’m just saying he doesn’t deserve to be treated like a leper. What if he is telling the truth and he’s here to protect Wyatt?” 

“I’m his mother. Protecting him is my job,” Piper snapped and suddenly Phoebe understood. This had nothing to do with Chris. It was his coming back here at all that meant that she had failed at some point to do just that and it was easier to distrust him than accept that. She knew that she wasn’t going to get through to her sister right now. 

“Okay, Piper. Just think about what I said. He’s all alone here. It costs us nothing to be nice,” Phoebe said and dropped the subject. 

 

Chris orbed back to P3 and finally let his tears fall. Just a few though. He pulled himself together pretty quickly, but this was getting harder and harder. He just wished he had someone to talk to. Anyone that could understand. Then he remembered that he did. And he had promised the sisters to talk to him anyway. It took a few minutes for his voice to work and he called for Loki. 

“What’s up kid?” Loki asked as he appeared in the room and snapped up his recliner. No sooner than he sat though, he realized that Chris was barely holding himself together. “What’s wrong?” 

Chris shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not important. I promised the sisters that I would talk to you about something though.” 

Loki tilted his head. He wasn’t sure why he was so moved by the anguish of the young man, but he didn’t want to let this go. “C’mon now. I already know all your secrets. Or most of them at least. What can it hurt talking about it?”

“It’s nothing anyone can help with. It’s just being back here with my family who don’t trust me or like me even. I don’t even know why it bothers me so much. I haven’t seen them in almost ten years anyway.”

Loki understood without him having to say it. He would have been far too young ten years ago to be out on his own, which meant something took them away from him. Probably death. “How old were you?” 

“Fourteen. It was my birthday…I don’t want to talk about it,” Chris said with a note of finality. 

Loki nodded. “Okay kiddo. That’s fine. What were you supposed to talk to me about?” He understood how he must feel. Having watched your family die and bury them only to end up in the past and have to put up with their hatred and distrust was enough to tear anyone apart. He decided then and there that he would keep a close eye on Chris and make sure he was available to talk to if he got too close to breaking. After all, if he failed in his mission then Loki would have to step in and that would be annoying. 

“I was supposed to ask you to be a little more open with them. They’re nervous because they know next to nothing about you and with you as close to Wyatt as you are that scares them.” 

Loki smiled sadly at Chris. Now he knew where all this came from. It wasn’t like he could be open with them either being from the future and they probably brought that up and not very nicely. “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll open up…some…with them, if you do the same with me. You don’t have anything to hide from me like you do from them and you can’t keep everything bottled up inside.” 

“And give you more of my secrets to use against me?” Chris asked warily. 

Loki shook his head. He could see why he felt that way, but he was off base. “Are any of your secrets bigger than what I already know?” he asked and when Chris shook his head he continued, “Then what does it matter. If it helps, the agreement we made covers all secrets, no matter when I learn them.”

Chris sighed heavily. “Okay then. You have a deal.” Part of him was relieved. He would have someone to help him keep it together. He felt weak for needing it though.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Loki is a little OOC here, but we only see him for a little while. There will be more info on how he spends the rest of his time later.

“Good. So spill. What happened to your family?” Loki leaned back nonchalantly despite knowing that was the last thing this story would be. 

Chris took a deep shaky breath. “It was my fourteenth birthday. My dad had taken Wyatt up to elderland for some lessons, and they promised they would be back for my birthday. I should have known better. Dad never made a single one of my birthdays, but Wyatt had never missed one. Even when he had to orb away from Dad to do it. To this day I don’t know what happened. How dad kept him away or if he just forgot. But anyway, the party was in full swing. Me and my sister, my cousins, my mom and my aunts and uncles. We were just cutting the cake when it happened. We were attacked by a group of demons. We all tried to fight, but the adults kept trying to get us to take cover. That’s why they died. They were distracted by us. We should have just hidden like they asked.”

Loki shook his head. “You don’t know that it would have made a difference and you can’t think like that. Maybe you could have taken them on if you’d been allowed to fight, maybe you couldn’t have. Maybe hiding would have saved them, maybe it wouldn’t. Truth is, there is no way to know. What happened, happened, and no amount of second guessing yourself can change that.”

“You don’t know what it’s like,” Chris shook his head. “You can’t possibly imagine how it feels to know you contributed to the death of your family.”

Loki looked away. “Yes. I do,” he said quietly.

Chris looked curiously at him. “What happened?”

Loki sighed. He really didn’t want to have to tell this story. “An old acquaintance was after me. He wanted to get to me and he killed all of my remaining children just to hurt me before he finally came after me.”

Chris reached out a put a hand on Loki’s arm. “I’m sorry, Loki. No one should ever kill someone’s children just to hurt them.” 

“Yeah. Well. It happened and I can’t change it. No use dwelling on it,” Loki told him. “What happened when your brother and father got home?

“They came back the next day. I hadn’t moved since it happened. I just sat there with the bodies. I was still calling for them to come heal them, but my throat was hoarse by then and it was barely a croak. Wyatt took one look and orbed away. My father stayed and blamed me for what happened. He said I should have been stronger. I should have fought harder. I should have healed them. I never could heal though. He never taught me. He taught Wyatt, but not me.”

“Your father is an ass,” Loki told him. “Want me to teach him a lesson for you?” 

Chris shook his head. “No. Maybe one day. For now he’s still needed. My sister and I haven’t even been conceived yet.” 

Loki nodded. He could understand that. After the sister was conceived all bets were off though. “When did you next see your brother?” 

“About a year later. He was the leader of the underworld by then. He tried to get me to join him. He thought that power was the answer to everything. That if you had enough power nothing could hurt you. And maybe he was right, but it would have been a betrayal to my family to accept that. To join him. I tried for years to get him back. To get him to see, but he just got worse and worse. I watched as the world burned. I stood between him and the resistance, both sides hated me. The resistance wasn’t powerful enough to hurt me though and Wyatt wouldn’t. Finally, I realized that I was never going to change him there. I knew that something had gotten to him when he was a baby. Before I was born. He had been kidnapped for about six months before they could get him back. I’d heard it mentioned before, but never got the whole story. I couldn’t help but think that maybe…if that hadn’t happened…he could be different. He wouldn’t have been so quick to jump to evil.”

“That’s a laudable goal. I can only hope you succeed. If you need my help, just ask,” Loki offered before he even realized he was offering. What the hell was wrong with him. He was doing this so he would have to do /less/ work later, now he was signing up for a complicated mission. When he saw the look of hope in Chris’ eyes though, he couldn’t take it back, so he decided to change the subject. “You can tell the others about what I told you today if you want. I know the deal was for me to open up to them. I would prefer if you would leave the part about me being dead out of it though.” He was a bit touchy about that subject, and who knew how they would react to the thought that their child had brought someone back from the dead. 

Chris nodded. “Thank you Loki.” 

“And I will talk to them too. But I’ll wait until I see them again. I’m not gonna seek them out just for that. Does that work for you?” 

“Yeah. That’s fine. They would probably be more suspicious if you did anyway.” Loki apparently saw that nothing more was forthcoming because he snapped away leaving Chris with his thoughts. He had to admit that opening up like that did help. He felt like a burden had been relieved from his shoulders. Someone knew. He had someone to talk to, and someone to help if he needed it. Someone who didn’t judge him, and that meant the whole world to the young witchlighter. 

Chris avoided the manor as much as possible for the next couple weeks, hoping they would forget what he had said, and how he’d acted when the subject of his family came up. When he did show up it was only to get them to vanquish something he needed the power of three for. No one really figured out until far in the future that the power of three had nothing to do with the power. It had to do with the three different harmonic magics working in sync. If it were power he would have been able to do it himself. So would Wyatt, but some things required three. 

He hadn’t seen Loki since then again either, and he was surprised to find that he actually missed him. Not enough to lower himself to calling him unless he had an actual reason though. He had been working in the underworld undercover when the gremlins found him and told him that he was needed at the manor and he went. Grudgingly. It was bad enough that they barely helped him, but calling him away when he was busy. And why couldn’t they just call him the normal way anyway? Why did they have to send gremlins after him? 

He got there only two find two sets of women claiming to be the charmed ones and he didn’t believe the second set for a second. At least until they mentioned something that he had said that morning. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. They could have been eavesdropping somehow, but it gave him a moment of doubt. Especially when they mentioned the identity spell. It was possible, but how to know. When the imposter who claimed to be Paige mentioned she could still orb he figured he finally had a way to know. When she failed to orb he blew them off and told Piper to go ahead and blast them. Then Piper missed. More than once. And was acting way out of character and that’s when he knew that somehow the others were telling the truth. It nearly made him gag to pretend to be with who he saw as his aunt, and even telling himself that she was an imposter didn’t help much, but it worked. He broke their power and connection to the book and when the real charmed ones unfroze he smirked. “You should be able to handle these women now.” 

Once they were subdued, Paige asked him “I take it this was your doing?” 

Chris couldn’t help a small smile at that. “Hey, you’re the one who got me here.” 

“How did you know they weren’t us?” Piper asked curiously. 

“In all my life I have never seen you take the bait the way that witch took it from you,” he said smugly. 

Phoebe narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “In all your life? You’ve only been our whitelighter for two months.”

Chris cursed himself for that slip, and changed the subject. “Let’s just reverse the magic,” he said as he handed them the book. When he managed to get away he knew that he needed to do something. He couldn’t keep going on like this. It was getting harder and harder to keep Phoebe blocked, so he sought out a dark apothecary to get an empath blocking potion. He wasn’t counting on Leo spying on him though. Thankfully he was able to pawn him off with the idea that the potion was for the sisters. He was annoyed that he had to go hunting again for the ingredients for another potion, but it was better than being busted.


	9. Chapter 9

Chris felt like he was going to go out of his mind. Between Leo dogging him with his suspicions, and the sisters acting like helping him was the end of the world, he was exhausted and frustrated and didn’t know how much more he could take, so he called the one person that he thought he could maybe count on to help. “Loki?” When he didn’t appear Chris sighed and plopped down in the couch, rubbing the bridge of his nose to stave off the nearly perpetual headache he’d been having lately. He knew he needed sleep. He hadn’t slept more than a few hours a night since he got back here, but there was just so much to do. He decided he needed to close his eyes. Just for a few minutes. And then he would get back to work. 

Chris’ eyes snapped open about two hours later, his danger senses going off and he jumped up off the couch only to see Loki sprawled in the usual recliner he snapped up. “Loki! What are you doing here?” 

Loki raised an eyebrow at him. “You called me, remember kid?” 

Chris’ heart had started to slow down so he was able to think and remembered that yeah. He had called Loki. “I didn’t think you were coming.” 

Loki shrugged. “I was busy dealing with some idiots who needed some comeuppance. Your call didn’t seem urgent so I just finished up there first.”

“Um…Okay…who…and what…um…what did you do with them?” Chris asked nervously, not sure if he wanted to know. 

Loki waved a hand dismissively. “Just some idiots who decided to run a little scam to kidnap kids and sell them for less than honorable purposes. I made them see the errors of their ways.”

“I…um…o-okay,” Chris tried to wrap his head around it, and decided he really didn’t want details. “Well I was wondering if you would be willing to help me with something a little similar?” Loki tilted his head curiously, so Chris continued. “It’s just that…the sisters are so consumed with their own crap that I’m running myself into the ground trying to save Wyatt alone. They aren’t taking anything I say seriously and act like I’m an imposition when I need their help.”

“So you want me to teach them a lesson?” Loki asked curiously. Chris nodded and Loki considered it for a moment. “If you really can’t think of another way, I’ll help, but let me tell you why I’m hesitant. So far, I’ve avoided any kind of magical beings, and while I know your ‘elders’ have sensed me, they have left me alone and let me fly under the radar. If I were to interfere with their most powerful witches, it wouldn’t be likely to stay that way.”

“But you implied that they aren’t a threat to you…” Chris pointed out. 

“That’s true. They aren’t. But if they come after me hard enough, I’ll have to take them out in self defense. Then someone would have to take up the slack and run things around here, and I would end up getting the job by default. I think I mentioned how I feel about responsibility and politics. I would much rather just let them deal with all this and I’ll have my fun elsewhere without stepping on their toes.”

Chris nodded. That made sense. “Okay. I do have another option, but it’s a little risky. It involves working with a demon.”

Loki nodded. “Go ahead then. If you get in too much of a bind, just call for me and I’ll bail you out, but if you can keep me out of it, that would be best.” 

Chris breathed a sigh of relief. He could accept that compromise. As long as he had an out if he needed it. He didn’t really expect Loki to drop everything and jump in anyway. Now that he had a safety net, he went off to see Gith about feeding the sisters’ desires. 

 

It was all going according to plan. All the sisters were trapped in their own worlds, and were learning a valuable lesson. He would rescue them when they got in too deep and all would be well. Unfortunately, the demon had other ideas and before he knew it, he was hit with a darklighter arrow. He knew that he could call Loki, but wanted to try and get out of it himself if possible. He waited until the demon was distracted, and used his telekinesis to merge two of the worlds. If they could work together, they could easily get out. At least he hoped so. If not, he hoped that Loki lived up to his end of the bargain. 

 

Chris was just about ready to give in and call Loki when the sisters came out of Gith’s worlds and suddenly he appeared anyway. Judging by Wyatt’s expression, he had been the culprit. Loki looked at him and rolled his eyes before narrowing them. “He’s sick,” Loki told them. 

“We know,” Piper snapped. 

Loki then noticed Chris laying on the floor of the cave and rushed over, trying to ignore the panic welling up inside him. “He needs help too.”

“Then why don’t you help?” Piper snapped. 

“Healing is not one of my powers,” Loki snapped back. “So why don’t you call that elder husband of yours, and quick. Chris doesn’t have much time left.”

Piper called Leo right away, though it was obvious that it was more for the baby in her arms than the man lying nearly dead at Loki’s feet, and Loki grit his teeth as the elder healed the baby first, despite the fact that he was obviously in the least danger. He breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t too late for Chris though when he was healed. 

Now that the crisis was averted, Piper turned to Loki and asked suspiciously. “So you can’t heal? As powerful as you are?” 

Loki fought his secretive nature, remembering the deal he had made with the young witchlighter, so he answered. “No. My power shows in different ways. I’m a master of the fire element, also of illusion, which lends itself to memory modification. I have the same creation powers as all of the gods, which includes being able to affect changes to reality in minor ways, much like the cleaners as you call them. There were other gods who specialized in healing, other elements, and other aspects of powers. No one person can do it all, no matter how powerful they are.”

“So if you were hurt in your world…” Phoebe asked.

“I would go to Eir or one of the other lesser healers depending on how bad the injury was,” Loki told her. 

“So if you get hurt here?” Chris asked, trying to disguise his worry. 

Loki shrugged. “I just have to hope that the minor abilities in healing here is enough to help. Not much can hurt me though, and I doubt anything can here as weak as magic is in this world. If it did, unless I was near death, I would heal on my own. It would just take a while.”

“If we’re done with the Q and A, can we please get out of here?” Leo asked impatiently, breaking up the conversation. Those who could orb grabbed someone who couldn’t and they all disappeared, but when they reappeared at the manor, Loki wasn’t with them, not that anyone was surprised. 

 

Loki reappeared back home, and let out a heavy breath as he plopped onto his leather couch. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did seeing Chris dying like that gut him so bad? He tried to convince himself that Chris was needed to keep Wyatt in line so that Loki wouldn’t have to work so hard, but unlike in the past, he wasn’t quite able to convince himself of that. No sooner than he came to the realization that he was attracted to him, he heard Chris calling him and cursed. He didn’t want to go really, but the part of him that worried for Chris wouldn’t let it go without seeing with his own eyes that he was fully recovered. 

 

Chris was soon summarily dismissed from the manor so he orbed back to P3 and called for Loki. He wasn’t sure why, really. Just that he needed to see him. He was somewhat surprised when Loki appeared right after his call. 

Loki, true to form, snapped up his trademark luxurious recliner, and plopped down. “What’s up?”

Chris just shrugged. “I don’t know. You left kind of abruptly and I just wanted to…I don’t know…” He looked down, somewhat embarrassed. 

Loki chuckled. “I’m good, kid. I don’t particularly like answering questions, especially relating to my people who are all extinct here, but I can deal. How are you?” 

Chris rubbed his stomach instinctively, remembering the wound. “I’m okay. Healed up fine.” 

“Why didn’t you call me?” Loki asked. 

“You were trying to stay out of it, so I was trying to wait as long as I could for help before dragging you in. I was just about to call you anyway when they came out and Wyatt beat me to the punch.”

Loki nodded. “Still. I may not have been able to heal you, but I could have gone and gotten someone who could. The elder guy probably.”

Chris shook his head. “Then I’m glad I didn’t call you. He would have immediately freed them from the trap without them learning their lesson. Then it would have been for nothing and I wouldn’t have gotten another chance.”

“I can understand that. Just, next time, call me before it gets so bad. If need be, I can take you to him and we can make up some story.”

Chris couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on his face. Someone actually cared. Someone would go out of their way to help him if he needed it. “Okay. I’ll do that. Next time.”


	10. Chapter 10

It was a few weeks before all hell broke loose again. Somehow in their trip through the time portals and nearly becoming dinosaur chow, Leo had gotten a stick shoved up his ass again, which meant he was taken off the ‘charmed ones account’. Again. For crying out loud, all he wanted to do was save their son and they kept treating him like a criminal. At least Phoebe and Paige had warmed up to him a bit, but still not so much on the demon hunting, which meant he was still going that alone. He just needed someone to vent to, and there was only one person who could fit that bill. He hesitated to call Loki, though. For some reason, he got the impression that the god was avoiding him, but then again, they did have a deal. Chris was supposed to open up to him when things got to be too much, so he would give it a shot. 

This time when he called, Loki came within about ten minutes and plopped down in his conjured chair again. “What’s up kid?” 

Chris sighed. “I’m just…so frustrated right now. I just…”

“Needed someone to talk to. I get it. What’s going on?” Loki finished for him. 

“I’ve been forbidden from helping the family again. It’s almost like they don’t care if something happens to Wyatt. I mean, even if they didn’t believe me, they should at least listen just in case, but no. Leo keeps thinking I’m up to something and behind sending him to Valhalla…”

“But you were,” Loki interrupted. 

“Yeah, okay, but they don’t know that,” Chris protested. “As far as they know I’m just an innocent whitelighter from the future come to help save their son. And it’s bad enough that they can’t be bothered to help me, but they keep throwing me away like I’m nothing.”

“Did you ever consider that maybe if they knew who you were…” Loki suggested. 

“No. Absolutely not. First rule of time travel, never tell anyone who you are. Especially if you haven’t been born yet. Too much can go wrong.”

Loki raised an eyebrow at him. “Seems to me like something has already gone wrong. I mean, how are you going to be conceived if your parents are split up? I would think your only chance at this point is getting them to realize that they need to be together for you to be born.”

Chris shook his head. “They hate me. I don’t see the desperate need for me to exist overcoming that and their issues with each other. Then I would have to live with knowing that my own family hated me so much they intentionally erased me from existence.” 

Loki shrugged. He thought the kid was wrong, but there was obviously going to be no reasoning with him on this issue. He would keep an eye on things and work a little of his own magic if it seemed to be getting too close. He could tell Chris was getting squirmy about the subject so he decided to change it. “Okay, so back to the original problem…what are you going to do about it?” 

Chris sighed. “I would have no problem completely ignoring the edict, if not for the fact that Leo is around, and even when I’m just watching without being there physically he can sense me. Not to mention the fact that I still have a ton of work to do in the underworld and now that I’ve been taken off their case I won’t have any idea if they’re in trouble.”

Loki considered the matter for a minute. He liked that the kid was willing to break rules if he needed to, so he would help. Just this once. “How about this? I’ll put my own trackers on them. Ones your elders can’t sense. Then if they get in trouble I’ll know, even if the baby doesn’t and I’ll come get you. Then you can earn some goodwill by saving their butts, which might help too.” 

Chris considered the matter and gave a relieved nod. “That would work. Thank you, Loki. Really.”

Loki gave a half smile. “Don’t mention it, kid.”

Chris smiled back as he felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Well, now that I know everything will be okay, I should get back to the underworld. The group I’m undercover with is going to a gathering tonight to see someone who is trying to consolidate power.” Loki just nodded and disappeared, leaving his recliner behind for the first time, but Chris didn’t notice in his haste to head out. 

 

Loki went over to the manor, completely invisible to all, even the elder’s senses, and put tags on all three of the women and the baby just to be safe. After a moment of thought, he added one to the elder as well. If he wanted Chris to be conceived he had to make sure nothing happened to him either. 

Once that was done, he headed home and began to pace. He was getting really annoyed at his sentimentality. He’d been so consumed with escaping the politics and family drama back home for so long that he hadn’t had a relationship in forever. It had been all one night stands with the occasional fling. He wasn’t used to these feelings that Chris kept bringing up in him, and that irritated him. Granted he wasn’t just a normal mortal. He was a descendant of the gods which made him a little more acceptable, but he was still mortal, normal or not, and Loki didn’t like the idea of the kind of commitment it would take to fix that. 

Loki stopped pacing as he realized that he was getting ahead of himself. He didn’t even know if the witchlighter would be interested in a relationship at all. He did have a lot on his plate anyway, and he wasn’t even sure if Chris was into men. There was no point worrying about it anyway. Then again, Loki was never good at denying himself something he wanted. He just had to decide if he wanted it badly enough to chase it. Finally, he decided that he would just see how things go for now. Eventually he would have an answer to his many questions. Hopefully before he ran out of patience. 

 

It was less than a day before Loki appeared next to Chris, and pretended to be his informant to get him alone. Phoebe and Paige were in trouble. Before they could get back to help though, Loki stopped them. The crisis was over. They were fine again. “Sorry. I didn’t even think of the fact that they could have gotten the elder to heal them.”

Chris shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. You’re doing this for me, and I appreciate it. If nothing else we can consider it a drill for when I’m really needed.” Loki patted him on the shoulder and disappeared. 

 

A few days later, Leo found him at P3. “Chris, can we talk?” 

Chris looked at him skeptically and nodded, motioning for him to sit, finally noticing that the recliner was still there. He wasn’t sure if he should sit in it or not, given that it was Loki’s seat, but if he didn’t then Leo would, so he bit the bullet and hoped the god didn’t mind. He noticed the suspicious look that Leo gave the chair, given its obvious opulence in the grungy backroom of the club, but he ignored it. He wasn’t sure how to explain in such a way to not make the elder even more distrustful of him. “What’s up Leo?” he asked irritated. 

“It’s like this. The elders aren’t very happy with me taking charge of the sisters again. They want me to stop acting like a whitelighter and join them up there. They decided that you would be given them as charges again, but I will remain here watching over you. I still don’t trust you at all so you will be their whitelighter again, but under my close supervision. Understood?” 

Chris gritted his teeth against the insinuation. “Fine. But just know that I do a lot of research and undercover work in the underworld too, and if you follow me there, we’ll all be in trouble. You can stick your nose in as much as you want when I’m dealing directly with them, but otherwise, let me do what I came here to do. Deal?” 

Leo nodded, despite having little intention of sticking to that deal, but Chris accepted anyway. At least they were back on his radar now, even if he would have some heavy oversight. At least with Leo sticking around, there was some chance of him being conceived anyway, so he would consider it a win either way.


	11. Chapter 11

Chris realized that Leo had no intention of leaving him alone, but he did manage to ditch him long enough to do the more questionable undercover things, which was good. He managed to get the sisters to go after one of the demons on his list, which was a good thing and he popped in the next day to see how it went. “So you vanquished the demon?”

 

Piper gave a half shrug. “Yes and no.”

 

Paige butted in. “Well, the good news is the demon you sent us after is in fact gone.”

 

Phoebe added her two cents. “And the bad news is whatever ate it, left us that.”

 

Chris looked to where she was pointing and noticed a second baby in the playpen. For a moment he just figured that they rescued a baby from the demon until the little thing flicked a forked tongue and he recoiled. Paige snickered. “I think he likes you.”

 

Chris sneered. “I don't care. Vanquish it.”

 

Phoebe looked at him like he was insane. “Chris…”

 

Chris gave her a hard look. “I mean it. Now,” he demanded.

 

“No, we are not vanquishing a baby. What's wrong with you?” Paige asked incredulously.

 

“I'm just concerned that this could be the future evil that gets to Wyatt,” Chris said pointedly. I mean come on. A demon for a playmate? That could make anyone a little nuts.

 

Paige scoffed. “Don't be ridiculous.”

 

“What? I'm being ridiculous? There is a /demon/ in the /playpen/!” Chris said just as incredulously. Were they insane? They apparently thought that was all that needed to be said about the subject and started going on about other things. “Forget that. What are you gonna do?” He tried to bring them back on task, but Paige started going on about some useless thing that she had been talking about. “About the baby, I meant the baby. We gotta do something,” he said impatiently. He started when he saw the baby scoop up Wyatt’s pacifier with his tongue. “Fast.”

 

In the end Chris completely failed to convince them that the baby needed to be vanquished so he went to get the big guns. He found Leo on top of the Golden Gate Bridge and let him know that Wyatt had a new demon friend, and he should probably do something about it. Unfortunately by the time they got there someone had kidnapped Piper when he failed to get the baby. At least Leo had taken Wyatt ‘Up There’ so he was out of range. This was getting bad. They needed to get rid of that baby and fast. He only knew of one person that could help, so he called Loki.

 

“What’s up kiddo?” Loki asked nonchalantly as he appeared. Chris just pointed at the baby. Loki tilted his head at it curiously and then looked back to Chris. “What?”

 

“It’s a demon. It needs to be vanquished but no one is listening to me,” he snapped irritated.

 

Loki’s eyes narrowed. “Of course they aren’t listening to you. It’s a baby for crying out loud.”

 

“It’s a demon!” Chris protested.

 

“It’s only half demon and it has no more control over itself than Wyatt did when I saved him. If you wanted someone to kill this baby you sure as hell shouldn’t have called me,” Loki said heatedly.

 

“So we’re just supposed to keep it here with access to Wyatt?!” Chris replied.

 

“Fine. I’ll go find it a nice home. Somewhere it doesn’t have to fear for it’s life,” Loki snapped as he scooped up the baby and disappeared.

 

Paige and Phoebe just watched in shock as the situation deteriorated and when Loki disappeared, they glared at Chris. “Great job. Now we can’t use the baby to get Piper back,” Paige said rolling her eyes.

 

“Why would you even call him anyway?” Phoebe asked.

 

Chris looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment, but he didn’t see any way out of this now. “He’s helped me out of a couple tough spots,” he admitted with a shrug. “I thought he could help again.”

 

“Instead you lost us the only leverage to get our sister back,” Phoebe said disappointed. Just as she said that Loki appeared back in the room with Piper who looked more than a little dazed.

 

“What happened?” Paige asked as she and Phoebe rushed over to her.

 

“I got your sister back and the baby’s father is healed and taking care of him and his house is warded against the manticore’s coming back for the baby. You’re welcome,” he said with one last glare at Chris before he left.

 

 

 

 

It was a few weeks later, and Loki and Chris had been avoiding each other, when Chris’ fiancée Bianca showed up and attacked him. Thankfully, Piper came in before she finished the job and blew her up. Chris knew that she would reform, but declined to tell the sisters that. Despite everything, he didn’t want her dead. He tried to go on, but the drain on his powers was killing him. He knew he didn’t have much time left, so he called Loki. He knew that Loki couldn’t heal, but maybe he could at least fix his powers. That wasn’t exactly healing. Leo had already tried healing and it didn’t work. The only other option was to go to Bianca for her to finish the job. He would save that for a last resort though.

 

Loki appeared almost immediately, having sensed the urgency in Chris’ call. Loki took one look at him and all the residual anger just evaporated and he put a hand on Chris’ head to try and evaluate what was wrong. “What happened?”

 

“Power drain gone bad,” Chris croaked out.

 

Loki considered the matter for a moment and thought of what he could do and came up with an idea. “Well…I could finish removing your powers and use them as a base to rebuild from. Otherwise the only option is to find what was drained.”

 

“Whatever you can do…would be appreciated,” he said with difficulty.

 

Loki nodded and put a hand into Chris’ chest and closed his eyes for a minute before pulling back out with a handful of what looked like bright light. “You’ll be powerless for a few hours while I fix it, but I’ll be back,” he said as he disappeared.

 

It didn’t take long before Chris was feeling much better. He was still powerless, of course, but he wasn’t exactly sick anymore so he could live with that. For a while at least. Unfortunately, Bianca found him before Loki got back. “It’s time to go home, Chris,” she told him.

 

Chris glared at her. “How are you gonna bring me back, anyway? That spell's a one-way door. It only goes backwards in time.”

 

“He created a new spell because of you. One that works both ways,” she told him.

 

“I'm touched,” he said sarcastically.

 

“You should be. He's gone to a lot of trouble to get you back,” she said softly.

 

“Yeah, I see that,” he scoffed.

 

“You know, you don't have to believe me, Chris, but this really is for the best,” she said almost pleading with him to understand.

 

“Oh, really? How's that?” he asked bitterly.

 

“Because this is your only chance to live. If I fail, he'll just keep sending more assassins back and all they'll have to bring home is a body,” she told him sadly.

 

Chris looked away. “Doesn't matter. There's nothing left in the future anymore, anyway,” he said, trying to hide his heartbreak as he took her engagement ring out of his pocket and tossed it on the table.

 

“Chris, don’t…” she gasped.

 

“You betrayed me Bianca. I won’t forget that and I sure as hell won’t forgive it. We’re done. No matter the outcome here,” Chris said coldly. He could see the moment she decided to quit playing nice and take him anyway, but Loki showed up just at that moment.

 

Loki raised his eyebrow at the standoff in the room and he could feel the tension swirling. There was no question who’s side he would be on so he froze Bianca and turned to Chris. “You ready to get your powers back, kid?” When Chris nodded, Loki shoved the powers back into him and Chris gave a sigh of relief. He felt whole again. “Now that’s settled,” he turned to Bianca and called up a fireball in his hand.

 

“NO!” Chris cried jumping between them.

 

“She tried to kill you, Chris,” Loki said pointedly. Since she was from the future he wouldn’t even have to worry about the interference factor.

 

“I know. Just…” Chris trailed off, not sure what to say. A few minutes ago, he thought he wanted her dead, but now that the time came, he just couldn’t do it.

 

Loki noticed the glint of the diamond ring on the table and his eyes narrowed for a moment as his expression turned hard. “Fine. We’ll send her back,” he said in a clipped tone. “First though…” He snapped up a scroll. “Give this to your ruler when you get back.” He handed it to her and waved a hand to create a portal before shoving her through.

 

“What did you do?” Chris asked worriedly.

 

“Just a little surprise for your future brother,” he said with a smirk.

 

 

 

 

Bianca reappeared in the ruins of P3 in the future, just where she left from and immediately shimmered to Wyatt. He needed to know what was going on. After letting him know she failed, she held out the scroll to him. “I was told to give you this,” she said with a wince, just before she went flying into the wall.

 

Wyatt threw her away before unrolling the scroll. No sooner than he got it unrolled though, he suddenly felt his powers slipping away. His eyes widened as he read the scroll 'Gotcha, Sucker!' with a sigil of two snakes intertwined as a signature, and he let out a scream of rage as the last of his powers slipped away.


	12. Chapter 12

Chris sighed as he was being covered in the goo of the blob demon. Figures when they need the power of three one of them has disappeared. Of course, getting the power of three together at all lately has been all but impossible so this was no different. Before he knew it all three of them were stuck in the past and the blob demon was trying to take over the house. He hoped they could hold it off until the girls got back. He had a little hope when he found they didn’t react well to electricity. That was, until the circuit breaker went out. 

He started to go down to the basement to hit the switch, but stopped a few steps down and barreled out of there, kicking the door closed behind him. “What is it? What is it?” Leo asked worriedly. 

“The slime demon…feeds on magic…Nexus,” Chris panted. 

Leo’s eyes widened. “How big?” he asked as he opened the door to check anyway. “Big,” he answered his own question as he slammed the door back. 

The demon was beating at the door trying to get out and they had to keep zapping it. “I can't keep up with it, we've gotta do something.”

“We just have to keep fighting,” Leo told him.

At that point a tentacle came out and almost got Chris. “Oh, screw this. LOKI!” Loki appeared and raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of him. Leo looked ready to say something distasteful, but before he could Chris explained. “Blob demon…feeds on magic…nexus,” he told Loki even as he kept electrocuting tentacles. 

Loki’s eyes widened for just a second before he plastered the unaffected look back on his face and waved them away from the door. Chris stepped aside immediately, but Leo hesitated for a noticeable minute until a tentacle came out and attacked him and he ended up getting thrown away anyway, so Loki approached the door and headed down. 

Loki wouldn’t admit it, but this one worried him. He’d never seen a demon in this world that could even come close to matching him, but one that is strengthened by magic feeding on a magical nexus…this one might just hurt. Still, he wouldn’t let it be seen as he just strolled into the basement like it was nothing. No sooner than he stepped in he was swallowed in a green blob of goo. He couldn’t breathe and felt like all the power was being sapped from him. That’s when he knew that the only way out of this was going to be to overload it on power. If it ‘ate’ enough it would burst. He just hoped he had enough in him. 

Instead of the slow drain the demon was causing, Loki flexed his magical muscles and poured his full power down the thing’s throat…figuratively, of course. He had hoped that the first shot would work, but all it did was piss the demon off. Now he was being thrown around the room and into walls and stairs, and whatever the hell else was down here. He couldn’t even spare any of his power to keep himself healed as he just kept throwing everything he had at the demon. It took far longer than Loki would have liked for the demon to explode, and now in addition to all the cuts and contusions and possibly a few broken bones, he was covered in green goo as well. He struggled to his feet and headed for the stairs. 

 

Meanwhile: Upstairs

“Are you sure it was a good idea to call him?” Leo asked suspiciously. 

“What? We obviously needed help, and since the sisters are MIA…”

“I don’t mean that…Well…I don’t ONLY mean that. It’s just that the thing feeds on magic and you just sent the highest source of magic in history after it,” Leo pointed out. 

Chris’ eyes widened and his gaze snapped to the door. “Shit…I didn’t think of that…” Chris forced himself to breathe and think before shaking his head. “He wouldn’t have gone after it if he couldn’t handle it. He’s not shy about saying no if he feels like it,” he tried to convince himself as well as Leo. His eyes didn’t leave the door though, until he heard shuffling on the other side of it and he wrenched it open, not even thinking that it could be the demon. 

Chris saw Loki standing almost at the top of the stairs, leaning heavily against the wall for support, and clearly struggling and he rushed down to help him. When he went to sling an arm over his shoulder, Loki groaned, “Easy there kiddo. Think I got some busted ribs.”

Chris nodded and was more gentle about helping him up the rest of the stairs and into the living room to lie on the couch. “Can you heal him?” he asked Leo. 

Leo crossed his arms. “I can’t heal evil.”

Loki chuckled lightly before groaning. “I’m not evil, idiot. I’m the very definition of neutral. You probably won’t be able to heal me all the way, but a little pick me up should be well within your capabilities. It’ll get me through until my own natural healing picks up again.”

“I thought you couldn’t heal at all?” Leo asked suspiciously, not moving towards him. 

“Normal everyday injuries like this don’t usually affect me because of my powers, but since I had to pour all of my power into that thing to gorge it, I don’t have anything protecting me from them. Once my powers start to replenish they’ll take care of it. Anything that could normally hurt me, such as godly weapons or powers, I wouldn’t be able to heal from like that. This thing just beat me against the walls a bit,” Loki explained, croaking in pain the entire time. 

“Damnit Leo, just heal what you can already,” Chris snapped. 

Leo narrowed his eyes at Loki, but uncrossed his arms and went over to try and heal. He put his hands over Loki’s chest first since he remembered the busted ribs comment and felt a little better as he saw him start to heal. He was apparently telling the truth about not being evil at least. When he felt his own powers starting to wane, he moved onto Loki’s head which was the next dangerous area. He could feel that the ribs, which actually were broken, had knitted back together. Not well, but enough that he would be able to move around, and he wanted to make sure there wasn’t a serious head injury. By the time Leo was out of powers, Loki was sitting up. He still looked pretty beat up, but the bruises had the look of being a day or two old and the open wounds weren’t bleeding anymore. 

When Loki stood up, looking mostly like his usual self, Chris just felt a wave of relief wash through him. He didn’t even hear Penny and Wyatt come in and Penny ask, “What’s going on? Who’s that?” His eyes had locked on Loki and before he knew it he had lunged at him and kissed him hard. Loki’s eyes widened for a second before his arms wrapped around Chris’ waist and pulled him tight as he kissed him back. 

The kiss went on for quite a while before Chris realized what he was doing and jumped back, wrenching himself out of Loki’s arms. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t…I mean…I didn’t…”

Loki forced himself not to show his feelings on his face and figured the best way out of this was a flippant remark. “Now that’s what I call a thank you,” he said with a wink and a smirk before disappearing.

 

Loki’s eyes weren’t the only ones to widen when Chris kissed Loki. So did Leo’s and Penny’s. Leo was the first to come to himself after about half a second and bustled Penny, who was carrying Wyatt out of the room. “Who is that?” Penny asked again, glancing back over her shoulder. 

“That’s Loki,” Leo said with a grimace. 

“Loki as in old norse god, Loki?” Penny asked nervously. Leo nodded. “And you let him into your home?!” 

Leo snorted. “If I had any idea how to keep him out I would. I don’t trust him, but Wyatt apparently pulled him here from another reality and since they are linked somehow now, I don’t know what else I can do.”

Chris walked in just in time to hear Leo’s comment. “You could try trusting your son for half a second and realizing that he’s not that bad,” he snapped before he orbed out. He really needed to get himself together after that. How could he have been so stupid?


	13. Chapter 13

Chris appeared back in P3 and plopped down on the couch. What the hell was he thinking? Why would he do that? It was completely insane. He wasn’t even attracted to Loki…was he? He thought about how Loki would bail him out of he needed it, but also tried to help him stand on his own feet. He thought about how it made him feel when Loki showed that he would fight for him and that he would get involved in things he didn’t want to if Chris needed him to. He thought about how he would look forward to Loki’s visits, and how Loki listened to him and talked him through his problems. How he would give advice but didn’t seem bothered if Chris didn’t take it. 

Then he thought about Bianca as his eyes trailed to the diamond ring that was still sitting on the table where he couldn’t bring himself to move it. He’d loved Bianca…hadn’t he? Now he wasn’t so sure. They had been in a world that was all hardship and danger and had clung to each other, but was it real? If he’d really loved her the way he thought he did, he wouldn’t have found it so easy to throw her away once she betrayed him. The real cincher was when he considered what he would do if Loki betrayed him. He would move heaven and earth to find out why and try to fix it. Same as he did when Wyatt betrayed them all. 

Could he really love Loki though? More importantly, could Loki ever love him? Loki was a god. He was strong and powerful. He was also rather cold and distant. He had been warming up with Chris though. He didn’t miss how Loki always put a mask on when he was around the rest of the family, but with Chris he was so much more open. How had he not noticed that before? His eyes went to Loki’s chair. Did he leave it on purpose this time? Maybe it was a hint? That something had changed for him; that he wanted to be here more; that he…wanted something of himself here… Chris shook his head. No this was ridiculous. He was just letting his imagination run away with him. He needed to get some sleep and he would figure all this out in the morning. He always got rather fanciful when he’d been awake for too long. 

 

Loki appeared back in his house and let out a heavy breath as he ran a hand through his hair. That was…intense. Too intense. He never dreamed that Chris would kiss him like that. Hell, he never dreamed that Chris would kiss him at all. He had lost all hope of having more from the young witchlighter as soon as he saw that engagement ring from future girl, and now this. He didn’t know what to think or what to believe. His best guess at the moment was that Chris was rebounding hard and as the only person in his life who wasn’t family, it was directed at him. If that was the case, he needed to get his mind off of it and move on. Normally, he wouldn’t mind being a rebound. That was usually the best sex anyway. This time was different though. He wouldn’t be Chris’ rebound. He /couldn’t/. There were too many pesky feelings there and it would tear him apart when it blew up in their faces, and he would never let /anyone/ hurt him like that. Loki ignored the pang in his heart as he solidified that course of action in his mind and laid down to rest. He wanted his powers to replenish as quickly as possible so he could finish healing. 

 

When Chris woke up the next morning, he decided to try and forget about the kiss and his feelings and everything. It really was the safest course of action. He had a job to do here and couldn’t afford to get distracted. Maybe when Wyatt was saved and everything was okay in the world, he could see what they could have. There was especially no point worrying about it when he could disappear from existence in a couple months. No, it was best to just leave it alone. 

That thought lasted about a week. Right up until the sisters conjured up a Mr. Right for Piper because she was about to give up on love. He knew why he was telling her not to give up, but couldn’t deny that Phoebe and Paige’s words on the matter struck him too. There was still his mission to think of, but Loki wouldn’t begrudge him that. He would understand how important it was. Truth was, it was feeling less urgent to him lately anyway since Loki’s offer to strip Wyatt’s powers if it became necessary. It still wasn’t the ideal solution, of course. He wanted his big brother, powers and all, but at least the world would still be saved. It was still important to save Wyatt too though, so he would still do everything in his power, but maybe, just maybe, he could allow himself a small sliver of happiness too. 

Chris hadn’t yet decided how to go about taking the chance when Wyatt ended up kidnapped and turned evil and he panicked. He called Loki for help as he paced, but he didn’t get any response. Loki wasn’t coming. He had to get out of this one on his own. He should have known better than to kiss the god. It was coming back to bite them all in the ass now. In the end, he managed to save Wyatt…barely. Who would have thought he would ever consider his brother not trusting him to be a good thing, but when his morality was reversed, Chris was the only one of them Wyatt did trust to let into his shield since he was the one he hadn’t before. Of course, he probably would have trusted Loki too, but the stupid god never showed up. 

Once everyone was settled and Chris orbed back to P3, thankfully higher in the sisters’ estimations, he called Loki again. “Damnit Loki, get the hell over here already.”

Loki appeared with a smirk. “Geez with the aggression, kid.”

“Where the hell were you?” Chris snapped. 

“I was watching,” Loki said smugly. 

“The whole time?” Chris fumed. 

“Since you called the first time.”

“Then why didn’t you help, damnit! I needed you!” 

“No, you didn’t,” Loki told him calmly. “You managed to handle it yourself just like I knew you would. And since you did, your family now has a lot more trust in you and will work with you easier.”

Chris narrowed his eyes at Loki as he considered the god’s words. “So…wait…you didn’t do anything because you wanted them to trust me more and make it easier for me to help Wyatt?” he asked incredulously. 

“And teach you that you can handle things yourself too. I can help if you’re in over your head, but I don’t want you to start using me as a crutch either. That will just make you weaker in the long run.”

Chris blinked at him for a second. This was all for his own good? Seriously? “What if I couldn’t handle it? What if I had failed?” he asked pointedly. 

“Then I would have stepped in. Hence the watching,” Loki said with a shrug as if it was no big deal. 

Chris just stood there for a long moment, staring at Loki. He felt like an emotional pendelum today, and now learning that Loki stayed away to help him…it solidified his earlier decision. He was gonna try to make things work with the god. If Loki would have him anyway. He stepped towards Loki and kissed him again, this time softer and slower, and he smiled into the kiss when he felt Loki pull him tightly and kiss him back. This time though, it was Loki who pulled away and put some distance between them. “Don’t,” Loki said breathlessly. 

Chris felt his heart drop. It seemed that he had read the situation wrong. Had read Loki wrong. But then why would Loki kiss him back like that. He /knew/ the god felt something for him. He had felt it. “Why?” Chris asked, trying to disguise the hurt in his voice. 

“I can’t be a rebound Chris. Not for you. You just lost your fiancée. You can’t…”

Chris grabbed Loki’s arm and turned him to face him, but didn’t close any distance between them. “This isn’t about a rebound Loki. And this isn’t a whim. I’ve spent a lot of time soul-searching since the last time I kissed you. Bianca…she was great. She was everything I needed in that life. In that world. But it was the hardships that brought us together, not love. Not really. She understood me. She was there. I could count on her, and I mistook that for more than it was. We both did. This is different,” Chris said clearly. 

Loki looked at him and studied him for a moment, as if he could read everything in his soul with that one look. It made sense. He’d seen it happen himself more times than he could count. Could he risk it though? Chris took a step towards him, not quite in his personal space and Loki felt his heart rate pick up. Could he let the young witchlighter in? When Chris put a hand to Loki’s cheek, he leaned into it unconsciously and he knew he was lost. There was no way he could walk away. There never was.


	14. Chapter 14

Chris held there, hand on Loki’s cheek, not crowding him, but not stepping away either as he waited. He needed Loki to be the one to take a step now. The ball was in his court. It seemed like forever, but in reality was only a moment before he felt Loki’s lips on his, firm and commanding, but soft and yielding at the same time and Chris matched his tone as he kissed him back. When they finally broke for air, Loki took a shaky breath and leaned his forehead onto Chris’ shoulder as he tried to wrap his head around things. 

Chris held Loki like that for a few minutes before he went over to the couch and pulled Loki down next to him, keeping an arm loosely around him while he waited for the god to speak. It took a minute before Chris noticed the mask go up and Loki looked at him with the trademark smirk and said, “You know, I could really get used to this whole method of thanks you have going here.”

Chris raised an eyebrow and simply said, “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Loki asked lazily, snapping his fingers and making the couch match the chair in it’s quality. 

“Don’t pretend that didn’t mean anything. That this is nothing. Don’t hide, Loki. Not from me. Please,” Chris said sadly as he brushed a thumb over Loki’s cheek. 

“Then what does it mean if you’re so smart,” Loki said challengingly. 

Chris gave him a soft smile. “It means that I care about you. It means that I want to see if we could have more. If we could have something real. And I think it means the same for you,” he said gently. He knew that Loki didn’t want to face this right now, but if he had let it go at that, it would have made everything worse. He wouldn’t make Loki delve deep right now, but if they had any chance at all, he had to acknowledge /something/. He couldn’t let the god dive back behind his masks or he might never come out. 

“And if it does?” Loki asked narrowing his eyes. Admitting it to himself was much easier than admitting it to Chris. At least not until he knew that the kid was gonna stick around and not get cold feet. 

“Then give this a chance. Give /us/ a chance.”

“What about your mission?” Loki asked. “I thought you had every moment dedicated to that.”

“I do. To a point. But I have to take breaks sometimes. There is room for more in my life. I can make room. I /will/ make room.” 

Loki looked at him for a moment before he said, “Prove it,” and then kissed Chris one more time and left. 

Chris sighed. He had gotten something at least. Loki had told him what he needed to do, and that kiss before he left said everything Chris needed to hear. Loki had already proven that he would fight for Chris, even if it was just to make sure he was okay. He needed to prove that he would fight for Loki too, and he intended to. Not right now though. He could tell that Loki needed some space right now. He wouldn’t give it too long though. Maybe tomorrow he would try again. 

 

Loki got back to his house and plopped heavily on his couch. This was a bad idea. No, scratch that. It was a horrible idea. Chris was here to save his brother and that was all. Then he would be going back to the future to a whole new life. A life that had no room for the last god in the world. This could never last, and this was one that he actually wanted to last. He knew he couldn’t walk away, but that didn’t mean he had to let himself fall either. He just hoped he could give himself a choice there. He walked to his room and took a long shower before falling into bed. He had half expected Chris to follow him. Or at least to call him back, but he didn’t. He wondered if that meant that he was giving up. Part of him hoped he was, but part of him desperately needed him not to. 

 

Chris orbed out to the underworld to work some of his sources until the wee hours of the morning, trying to get as much information as he could so that he could look away for a couple days. By the time he got back to P3 he collapsed on the new couch and passed out. Luckily he had been so used to sleeping only a few hours a night because three hours later, his alarm went off and he was up and trying to make a plan to get Loki. 

Chris knew that Loki wasn’t the classic romantic type any more than he was. While it was a good thing overall, at least classic romantics had a book to follow. He was just hanging in the wind with no idea where to go. He had to prove that he would make time for Loki and that he would fight for him, but how? It was about an hour later before he finally had an idea and his face lit up at the brilliance of it and he orbed out immediately. 

Chris reappeared at the top of Galdhøpiggen Peak in Norway. He figured the best place to start his search was the highest peak in the region. He walked around the mountain, struggling to keep steady with the ice as he used his limited senses to look for any indication of something more. After a few hours he came to the conclusion that there was nothing there, so he moved on to the second highest mountain in the region which happened to be in Sweden. Kebnekaise turned out to be even more treacherous though. In addition to the snow and ice, there were rocks jutting up out of them, also covered in ice. It didn’t take long for the worst to happen as his foot slipped on one of the icy rocks, and he slid, and then kept sliding. He felt his ankle break and his head hit another rock, but it all happened so fast he didn’t even get a chance to orb away. He got out a breathless, “Loki,” just as he lost consciousness. 

 

Loki heard Chris call him and tilted his head curiously as he wasn’t able to read why. He suddenly appeared next to where he sensed the call coming from and looked around confused. He knew where he was, of course. A mountaintop in Sweden. But why on earth would Chris be here? And where was he? He looked around more closely and noticed a piece of a black shoe sticking out of the snow and a trail of red in the snow leading down to it and he rushed over, almost panicked. He waved a hand and scattered the snow on top of him and knew immediately that Chris needed help and fast so he did the only thing he could think of. He appeared in heaven, grabbed Leo, and brought him immediately back to the mountain, pointed at Chris and said, “Heal.” 

Only the urgency of Chris’ situation had Leo obeying the more than a little rude abduction and order. As the glow faded and Chris was healed Leo turned to Loki to lay into him but before he could even say anything the god just waved a hand and Leo was back where he started from and more than a little disoriented. 

Just as Chris started to regain consciousness, Loki grabbed him and they reappeared in Loki’s house, with Chris lying on the couch with his head in Loki’s lap. “Wh-what happened?” Chris asked confused as he realized that Loki was leaning over him and he was inside and warm. 

Loki snorted. “Best I can tell, you decided to ski down a mountain without the benefit of skis. And headfirst at that.” 

“Oh…right,” Chris said sheepishly. 

“What were you doing up there anyway?” Loki asked curiously. 

Chris shook his head and tried to sit up but Loki just held him down. “It’s stupid.” Loki just raised an eyebrow and waited for an answer. Chris sighed. “I was looking for Asgard, okay.” 

Loki’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Why?” 

Chris shrugged. “I just thought…If I could find Asgard, maybe we could spend the day there or something or you might want to see it again or…I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Okay…” Loki said, still confused. “But why would you be looking up there?” 

“Highest mountain seemed like a good place to start,” Chris said as his cheeks lit up with a blush. 

Loki couldn’t help but chuckle. “Typical angel based society. Always looking up. Just so you know, the portal to Asgard is found in a crevasse in modern day Iceland. But that doesn’t really explain why you were looking for it.” 

“I just wanted to do something big. To show you…you know…that I’d be here.”

Loki shook his head. “And what would that prove? You don’t have to try so hard, you know. I don’t want or need big gestures.”

“Then what? What can I do to show you?” Chris asked desperately. 

“Just be here, Chris. That’s all,” Loki said softly, finally letting himself hope. “Just be here.”


	15. Chapter 15

Chris was finally allowed to sit up and brushed Loki’s hair back from his face as he said, “I am, Loki. I got ahead on my work so today could be all for you.” Loki smiled and leaned forward to kiss him and Chris pulled him closer. Once the kiss broke, Chris looked around. “So where are we?” 

“My home. I recreated it here. We’re somewhere around the areas of Sarek National Park and Padjelanta National Park,” Loki told him. 

Chris looked around even more curiously. “Give me a tour?” he asked hopefully. He wanted to see some more of Loki’s private life. To learn more about the normally closed off god. Loki nodded and got up, reaching a hand out to Chris and showed him the house, including pointing out the pictures on the walls and explaining who was in them. By the time they finished, Chris’ stomach was growling and Loki chuckled. 

Loki led them back to the kitchen and snapped up a feast, so they had an enjoyable meal, Chris talking more about his life and childhood, avoiding all the bad parts, while Loki did the same and lunch ran into dinner before they made their way back to the couch and got lost in each other. It was late by the time Chris started yawning, and he grinned at Loki and said, “This really was a great day.” 

Loki smirked. “Even with your facefirst tumble down the mountain?” 

Chris laughed. “The rest of the day more than made up for it,” he told him sincerely. 

“Good,” Loki said leaning over to kiss him one more time. “And now that you know where I live, you don’t have to be a stranger, right?” 

Chris grinned again. “I won’t,” he said happily as he orbed out and crashed back at P3. 

Over the course of the next couple weeks, Chris got back to his mission, but always took at least a few hours a day with Loki, sometimes at his place, sometimes at P3, but he always made time for the god and he could see Loki loosening up more and more with every passing day, but could tell he was still holding himself back, and didn’t know why. He didn’t know how to find out either, so he just stayed the course, and hoped it would either work itself out or Loki would talk to him about it. 

A few weeks after he had seen Loki’s house for the first time, Chris decided he needed to see if he was making progress in his mission here, so he waited until everyone was out of the manor and headed over with a demon in tow. This demon’s specialty was reading the amount of darkness and light in a soul and he needed someone to reassure him that he hadn’t already missed it. That he was still on track and had time. He wasn’t counting on getting caught. By Leo of all people. No matter how much he tried to explain, he still ended up being kicked out of the house and he orbed back to P3 in pieces. He wasn’t sure if he had called Loki or not, but he was there shortly after Chris arrived nonetheless. 

Loki sat down on the couch and pulled Chris to his side as he cried. Once he was calm enough to speak, Loki asked, “What happened?” Chris told him the whole story, and Loki kissed his head as he ran a hand through Chris’ hair. 

“Why didn’t you just ask me, kiddo. I can see light and darkness too and they wouldn’t have reacted that way if it was me there instead of a demon. Unless…” Loki trailed off, remembering when they first met and Chris accused him of being the thing they needed to protect Wyatt against. 

Chris sat straight up and looked at Loki. “No, no, no. Not at all. I trust you, Loki. Explicitly.”

“Then why…” 

“Because…well…” Chris stammered a bit. 

“Well what?” Loki asked almost coldly. 

That voice scared Chris. He knew that if he said the wrong thing here, he could lose Loki. Loki was retreating behind his masks, seeing this as a rejection and it was anything but. “It’s just…for one thing, I know you’re trying not to get involved with the magical community any more than you have to be. Plus I didn’t want you to think that any part of the reason I want you around is so that you can help me. It’s my mission, not yours and you shouldn’t have to be dragged into it,” Chris told him. 

Loki blinked at him for a moment as he tried to wrap his head around that before he rolled his eyes, kissed Chris quickly, and pulled him back to his side. “You’re an idiot,” he said fondly. When Chris looked back up at him curiously, he continued. “You’re right that I don’t want to get involved with the magical community any more than I have to be, but you forget. Wyatt and I are connected. I’m involved with him either way, and do you really think I wouldn’t do something that would help you not work yourself to death? Especially when it’s so easy to do?” 

Chris blushed brightly. “Well when you put it like that…” 

Loki gave him another short kiss. “Try to remember that I’m here for you. Even if no one else is, you still have me. I’m not gonna do everything for you and you know why, but something like this…ask me. Even if you think you need help and that I won’t want to do it, still ask me. The worst I can say is no, but I might even give you ideas on how to handle it yourself. Okay?” 

Chris sighed and rested his head on Loki’s shoulder. “Okay, Loki. I’ll remember that. Sorry. I really screwed up all around this time, huh?” 

Loki ran a hand through his hair as he felt the melancholy overtaking Chris again. “If you want I can go erase any memories of you bringing that demon in.”

“Erase their memories, not mine, right?” 

“Obviously,” Loki rolled his eyes again. 

“Okay, then yeah. That would be great. If you don’t mind,” Chris said hopefully. 

“Don’t get used to it, but just this once,” Loki promised. “I’ll be back.” He disappeared and was back in just a few minutes. “I took the chance to scan their minds too and neither Leo nor Paige had told anyone else before I got to them so you’re in the clear.”

“Thank you, Loki. Really,” Chris said curling closer to the god. He knew he should be out doing things right now, but he just needed Loki at the moment. He needed someone to tell him that it would be okay. Someone to make him feel like it was okay after the rejection from his family. 

“I also looked in on Wyatt while I was there. He’s still good. No trace of evil,” Loki offered and got a hard kiss in response. 

Loki chuckled as he swirled a hand in Chris’ hair. “Have I mentioned how much I like your method of thanks?” 

Chris glanced up at him to make sure it was a joke and not another mask attempt before he laughed. “You have said something to that effect before.” 

It was a few hours before Loki pulled away and whispered, “Someone’s coming,” before he disappeared. 

Chris got up to answer the door before he heard the knock and found Phoebe there. She came in and closed the door. “I need to ask you a question.”

“What?” Chris asked curiously. 

“I need you to be honest with me. No games, no running away, just the truth,” she said seriously. 

“Okay…” Chris said warily. 

“Are you Wyatt’s little brother?” she asked. 

Chris stopped breathing and looked in her eyes. He could see that this was more than a guess. He could see the denying it would get him nothing. He looked away as he felt the tears welling up in his eyes, both at the memories crashing over him and the expected rejection. He took a deep shaky breath and answered, “Only if I can get Piper and Leo back together in time.” 

Phoebe froze for a moment and said, “So you came back to save your brother…” as if everything made sense now. Chris nodded just before he was wrapped in a hug by Phoebe. “I need some time to wrap my head around this, but then you and me are gonna have a long talk mister. Got it?” 

Chris nodded again. “Okay Phoebe.” 

“Aunt Phoebe,” she corrected him. 

Chris felt his lips quirk, as he said, “Okay Aunt Phoebe.”


	16. Chapter 16

Once Phoebe was gone, Loki reappeared in the room. “So someone knows,” he said carefully, not sure how Chris would feel about that. Chris nodded as he sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. Loki sat down next to him and put a hand on his back. “You okay?” 

“I don’t even know right now,” Chris said wearily. 

Loki rubbed circles on his back. “It’s been an emotional day. I know. Is there anything I can do?” 

Chris looked at him with pleading eyes. “Stay with me?”

Loki nodded. “My place would be more comfortable,” he offered and when Chris nodded, he took them there. “We should get some sleep,” Loki suggested and when Chris nodded again, he led him up to the bedroom, took his shoes and coat off and laid him down in the bed before getting ready for bed himself and climbing in next to Chris. Chris immediately curled up to his side and Loki just held him until he finally passed out from the exhaustion of the day and then Loki let himself drift off as well. 

Over the next week, every moment he wasn’t with Loki, Chris spent with soothsayers, oracles, anyone he could that might be able to help him. Loki promised to keep an eye on his trackers on the family and simultaneously paid a great deal of attention to Chris’ search. He needed to know when to step in. If all else failed, he would make sure that Chris got conceived, no matter how he had to do it. 

Chris, once he was sure of the answer, orbed to Phoebe’s office. As the only person who knew who he really was, she was the only one who could help him. “Phoebe, I need your help.”

Phoebe jumped at his entrance before getting irritated. “I've been calling for you all week. Didn't you hear me?”

Chris shrugged. “For the first couple of days, yeah. Then I put you on mute.”

Phoebe looked offended. “You can put me on mute?”

Chris sighed in frustration. “I had to, I was busy. Now, I need your help.”

“Oh, yeah, and I need yours too, because you come here, you drop this bombshell on me, and you expect me to keep this secret? And I don't even know why I'm keeping the secret.”

Chris looked alarmed for a moment. “Nobody can find out Piper and Leo are my parents. It can mess with the whole future.” Like make them not want to risk conceiving me, he didn’t say. 

“Yeah, well, if you didn't want anybody to know, I don't know why you told me.”

“I told you because you busted me, and I'm glad you did. I have been so focused on protecting Wyatt, I've completely forgotten about me. This month is my conception date,” he said pointedly, reminding her that he didn’t come to the past on a lark, and protecting the nephew she actually liked was more important. 

Phoebe looked at him incredulously. “Your conception date?”

Chris nodded. “That's where I've been. Oracles, fortune tellers, soothsayers they all say the same thing. If mum and dad don't screw, this month I'm screwed.”

Phoebe shook her head as if to clear it. “Okay, I'm just trying to get used to you being my nephew. I never hit on you, did I?”

Chris looked disgusted. “What? No.” He was completely ignoring the time when Phoebe was the goddess of love and she kinda did, but he did NOT want to think about that, nor, he was sure, did Phoebe, so pretending it never happened was good in his book. 

Phoebe sighed in relief. “Oh, thank god.”

Chris decided to bring her back on subject. “Can we focus here, please? Mum and dad need to have sex. Now who's gonna tell them? You or me?”

Phoebe shook her head at him. “No, nobody's gonna tell them because we're not gonna reopen those wounds.”

Chris looked hopefully at her, wanting to hear her plan. “Okay. So how do we get them back together?”

Phoebe looked at him coldly. “W-we? There is no we here. We don't. You're the one that split them up. And why did you split them up?”

Chris explained, “Leo had to become an Elder to make room for me as your Whitelighter. It was the only way I could protect Wyatt from turning evil,” once again reminding her of his mission and why it was so important. Honestly it wasn’t like Leo was ever around in the future anyway. So he split them up a year early and from what he had heard, that year they were miserable. He was doing them a favor really. 

Phoebe snapped at him. “You're unbelievable. I mean, the most kids who are the cause of their parents divorce actually feel guilty. And you're sitting here like it's part of your master plan.”

Chris ignored the hurt and covered it with sarcasm. “I'm sensing some real issues here.”

Phoebe looked at him incredulously. “Oh, you're damn right there are issues. You can't just pop in from the future and play with people's lives because your big brother picked on you.”

Chris snapped, “He picked on the world, Phoebe.”

Phoebe cut him off forcefully. “I'm not finished. Your parents were happy until you split them up. And now you want my help because you didn't think this all the way through?”

Chris gave her what could almost be considered a sneer. “Feel better?”

“Yes.”

“Will you help me?” he asked not holding out much hope anymore. Seemed his aunt didn’t want him any more than the rest of his family did. 

Phoebe wavered. “No. Oh, I don't know.”

Chris tried one last time to get his point across. “If I'm not conceived in the next couple of weeks, I'll disappear forever.” He picks up a random letter off Phoebe's desk. “You are willing to help complete strangers. How about family? Phoebe snatches the letter back from Chris and gets a premonition. Chris was very familiar with the look and wondered if it had anything to do with him. “What is it? What'd you see?”

“A woman being attacked,” Phoebe told him. 

Chris sighed internally. So much for him getting any help. Still, they did have a job to do. “Where?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll need to head home and scry for her,” Phoebe told him. 

Chris offered to help and hopefully they could get this handled quickly and then get back to his problem. They got back eventually with a genie and him injured. Leo healed him up quickly enough though, and when he found out Piper was on a date with the fireman, he flipped. In trying to convince Leo to stop it, the elder let on that he was petitioning to have Chris sent back to his time…again. Chris was getting fed up. Then Leo started spouting on about having good intentions, but risky methods and he wanted to scream. He really needed Loki right now, but he had to see this through first. 

Before he knew it, Phoebe was the genie and things were spiraling out of control, but at least it kept Piper away from Leo. When Leo came back to let him know he was going back to the future, he lost it. “You are so full of it. This isn't about me being a bad Whitelighter, it's about you feeling like I've let you down somehow. So whatever issues you might have with me, I wish you would just get over it already.” He really hadn’t intended to make that a wish, but he forgot to watch what he said around a genie. Fortunately this one didn’t turn out so bad. He knew that was pure luck though. 

His second wish was intentional and borne from desperation. He wished for Piper and Leo to sleep together and it was granted. Just not in the way he intended and he groaned. It was time to call in some help. He called for Loki and gave him the cliffs notes version of what was going on, missing the calculating look he gave Phoebe at the knowledge that she was a genie at the moment. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any shortcuts for you. They only way to get the right person back in the bottle is to find the original genie. I can force her to make the wish, but you’ll have to find her.”

Chris nodded. It was better than they had before. “Can you keep an eye on her bottle?” Chris asked. He didn’t trust any of them not to lose it in a fight. 

“Chris!” Phoebe protested.

“It’s okay. I trust him,” Chris told her. 

Loki nodded and took the bottle while the rest went to try to find and trap Jinny. Once he was sure he was alone, he looked at her and said, “So since I have your bottle now, that means that I’m your master right?” Phoebe looked at him suspiciously and nodded slowly. 

“Okay, great. I do have one wish, but I’m not sure if it’s within your power,” Loki said. “Therefore, my first wish is for you to have no adverse affects if you are unable to grant any wishes.” He knew that without that caveat, a genie who couldn’t grant her master’s wishes could die. 

Phoebe blinked and nodded, granting that wish before saying, “You really shouldn’t make wishes with a genie you know. Besides, what could you possibly want that you can’t do for yourself?” 

He raised an eyebrow at her and continued. “I wish I had a device that could open a portal between my reality and this one on command.” Phoebe blinked and nodded, but nothing happened until she rubbed her chest absentmindedly and Loki sighed. “It was worth a shot. Do you feel any pain?” he asked worriedly. “With my first wish it should only be a slight passing discomfort.”

Phoebe shook her head. “No. No pain. Just felt weird for a second.” 

Chris stepped in then, not letting on that he had heard Loki’s wish other than ignoring the god. “Jinny is trapped downstairs,” he said shortly before walking out of the room. It took about two minutes to get everything back the way it was supposed to be after Loki used his mind control to force her to speak the words and Chris just glared at Loki and orbed out.


	17. Chapter 17

Loki looked around for a moment at the group of people looking at him who also seemed to have no clue what Chris’ problem was so he disappeared and went back to P3 looking for him, but Chris wasn’t there, so he tried the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, and struck gold. “What was that?” Loki asked confused. 

“You’re just dying to get out of here and ditch me, is that it?” Chris asked heatedly. 

“What do you…” 

“I heard you wish. You want to go back to your own reality, knowing that I can’t go with you. You’re just gonna abandon me here. After everything we’ve been through and everything we’ve promised each other…” 

Loki looked nervous for a minute. “Whoa now. I don’t remember any promises being made here…” 

Chris scoffed. “I’m not talking about those kinds of promises. I mean you promising to help me either save Wyatt or strip his powers. I meant your promise to keep me from falling apart.”

Loki visibly relaxed. “I will still honor those promises…” 

“How if you’re in a whole other reality?!” Chris snapped. “Just…leave me alone,” he said defeated before he orbed out. 

Loki sighed. That could have gone better. They definitely needed to talk more about this, so he went back to P3 to wait for Chris. He ended up sleeping on the thankfully far more luxurious couch. Chris never came home. 

Chris orbed from the bridge down to the underworld and went demon killing until he could barely stand anymore before he found an out of the way cavern and crumpled. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid. Trusting a god? After everything else he’d dealt with today; his aunt not wanting him conceived, his father wanting to throw him back to the future, and now this, he was so emotionally drained he could barely stand it. And now he had lost the one person he’d been counting on to keep him strong. To keep him going. It was over. He would just have to kill as many demons as he could manage before he ceased to exist. 

When Chris didn’t come home, Loki figured he just needed some space, so he would give it to him. They would have plenty of time to talk this out once the kid calmed down. He was still keeping watch on the tracker he had on Chris, but wasn’t going to intrude. Especially not when he was in the underworld. He didn’t need any distractions, and Loki having to go on a killing spree of his own if Chris got distracted and hurt would definitely draw attention. 

It was nearly a week before Loki felt his tracker getting weaker and he knew what that meant. It wasn’t pinging like if Chris were hurt, it was just fading. Chris was ceasing to exist. No more playing nice. He followed his trackers on Piper and Leo and surprisingly ended up in the spiritual plane. After getting rid of the darklighter, he went to Piper and Leo. “You’ll be happy to know the darklighter is gone.” 

Leo looked at him suspiciously. “Does that mean you can get us home?” 

Loki smirked. “I could…but you have something else to do first.” 

“What do you want from us?” Piper asked defensively. 

“You have to have sex,” Loki told them bluntly, enjoying their reactions as they sputtered. 

Leo was the first to form actual words. “We’re not even together anymore. Why would we…how could we…”

“And why the hell would you want us to? Are you some kind of pervert or something?” Piper chimed in disgustedly. 

“Usually, yes, but in this case, no,” Loki chuckled. “It is time for your next child to be conceived before they cease to exist.” 

“You want us to have another child? Now?” Piper asked incredulously. 

“You ARE going to have another child. I’m trying to do this the nice way and give you a chance to do it yourselves, but if I have to, I’ll do it the hard way.”

“Why do you care?” Leo asked. 

“Because your second son happens to mean a great deal to me, and I will not lose him,” Loki snapped, getting irritated. 

“How would you know our second son?” Piper asked suspiciously. 

“Unless…no…it can’t be…” Leo’s eyes widened as he figured it out. 

Loki smirked at him coldly. “Yes. Your second son is the one whose heart you have been ripping to pieces on a daily basis. The man who is risking everything, even his very existence to save his brother. The man who is so terrified that his family despises him that he won’t even tell them who he is because he thinks they will never want him. The man who broke all the rules to save whatever he could of his family only to have them treat him like a leper for it. The man who works non-stop with little to no help from anyone just to have a chance to make a difference and gets nothing but threats and hostility in return. THAT second son, and you will conceive him yourselves or I will make you. Your choice.” 

By the end of his speech, Piper was sobbing, and Leo wasn’t doing much better trying to comfort her. Loki went invisible to see how this went before he interfered. Their comfort could and should turn to more, or he would make it. He let their hysterics go on for a bit longer, as a reminder of how badly they screwed up, but then he sent a wave of calm towards them or they were never going to get on with it. In the end that was all he needed to do. Once they were done with their ‘job’ Loki transferred them back to Piper’s bed in the mortal plane of existence. 

 

Once Piper realized they were home, she immediately got dressed and motioned Leo to do the same before she began to call Chris. She needed to know that it worked. She needed to apologize to him. She needed to make this right. Somehow. He appeared in the room, sensing the franticness to her cries. “What’s wrong?” He asked worriedly only to find his arms full of babbling apologizing witch. “What’s going on?” he turned to Leo seeing as he couldn’t understand a word she was saying. 

“We are so so sorry, Chris. We had no idea you were…well…our son. Not that it’s any excuse,” Leo started. 

Chris jumped back wrenching himself from his mother’s arms as his eyes went wide. “How…how did you…who…” His first thought was that Phoebe had spilled the beans, but their next word blew that theory out of the water. 

“Loki,” Leo said as Piper tried to control herself. “He…he told us who you were and kinda…made us realize how we were treating you.” 

“He said you didn’t think we would want you, and I am so sorry you ever had cause to think that. Of course we want you baby,” Piper cried. 

“He…he promised…he…that bastard,” Chris snapped as he orbed out, leaving his parents behind. 

He reappeared in Loki’s house, finding the deity in the living room and pulled him up off the couch and punched him hard enough that he fell back down on the floor. Loki stood up and stared Chris down with a raised eyebrow, almost daring him to do that again. “You promised, you son of a bitch! How could you tell them?!” 

“I wasn’t going to risk losing you. It was either make them see reason and do the deed themselves or use mind control to force them to. If I used the mind control, they might have taken it out on your baby self. This way, you’re already a person to them, so they won’t take it out on the baby and they made the decision themselves.”

“You had no right! We had a deal,” Chris said irritated. 

“I don’t understand why you are so upset about this,” Loki told him. “You were worried that they wouldn’t want you if they knew who you were, and this proves that they did. I didn’t have to force them. Once they knew who you were, they were jumping into the sack to make you.”

“Yeah. And now I have to deal with them wanting to play happy family before I go back to the future where they aren’t,” Chris said as he deflated onto the couch and put his head in his hands.” 

Loki blinked for a moment as it hit him. He hadn’t had the whole picture, but now he got it. “You do realize…that if you had explained that concern to me, we could have avoided this entire mess, right?” 

“I shouldn’t have to tell you WHY I want my secrets kept,” Chris snapped. 

“Perhaps not, but I shouldn’t have to tell you that there is one major difference to the timeline that you aren’t taking into account,” Loki said as though it should be obvious. When Chris looked at him confused Loki rolled his eyes and said, “Me. If you really think I would just stand by and let your family die like that you obviously don’t know me very well.” 

Chris suddenly remembered the initial reason he was mad with Loki. “And how exactly are you planning to do that from another reality.” 

“Are you forgetting that she couldn’t grant my wish anyway?” Loki pointed out. 

“And if you find another way between now and then?” Chris said pointedly. 

“Chris…think for a moment about what I really wished for,” Loki told him calmly. When he could see Chris thinking but not quite getting it. “I wished for a doorway between this reality and my own to open on command. I had no intention of going anywhere if I couldn’t come right back. I just wanted to see how things were going at home. Check in on some friends. I would never leave if I couldn’t come back.” 

Chris considered it and thought back to what Loki had actually said before he realized that, just maybe, he was telling the truth. “You still had no right to tell anyone my secrets. We had a deal.” 

“Maybe not, but I would rather have you here and pissed at me, than ceasing to exist. Besides, I’ve still, and will continue to, keep the rest of your secrets.”

“Unless something else is more important to you,” Chris snapped. 

Loki snorted. “You are the only thing more important to me, so unless them knowing those secrets is the only way to save your life, I’m not giving them up, and the likelihood of that is all but absurd. Pretty much the only thing I couldn’t protect you from is ceasing to exist and now that’s settled…” 

“I…I don’t know…” Chris was feeling very run ragged at the moment. He still felt betrayed in so many ways and he just couldn’t deal right now, so he did the only thing he could. He orbed out.


	18. Chapter 18

Chris avoided everyone for a while, and Piper was getting desperate. Leo had already gone back ‘Up There’, so she was alone in her desperation, though Paige and Phoebe tried to help call him. After a few weeks though, she finally relented and called the one person she swore to never call. Loki. 

Loki heard the call from Piper and answered only because it was so odd. She had never called him before. He appeared beside her, leaning casually against the wall. “You rang?” he drawled. 

She spun around, startled, and took a moment to regain her bearings before she said, “Oh! Hi. Um…I just wondered…if you knew how Chris is?” 

He blinked at her for a moment. He hadn’t been expecting that. “He’s healthy and uninjured, if that’s what you mean. If you mean emotionally, I don’t know. He has been avoiding me as well.” 

“But you’re sure he’s healthy and uninjured?” Piper asked hopefully. 

“I have trackers on him that would let me know if he wasn’t and they are functioning normally,” Loki told her. 

“Okay. But why is he avoiding you?” Piper asked. 

“I had promised him not to tell anyone who he was. I broke that promise in my worry over his future.” 

“But surely he understands…”

Loki shook his head. “You should realize by now that he does not trust easily. I am sure that he will come around in time, but it will have to be in his time. Not in ours.” 

Piper sighed. “I don’t blame him for hating us. I just wish he’d give us a chance to make it up to him. Somehow.”

Loki was torn here. He wanted to tear her apart for the way she had treated him, but he knew that Chris wouldn’t thank him for it. Part of him wondered just how much Chris knew about what he had said to them before and how much of the avoiding him was anger over that. In the end, he decided on a middle ground. “You’re right. He does have plenty of reason. Even if you didn’t know he was your son, he was here to save your other son and you just piled the weight of the world onto his shoulders. Literally. You treated him worse than garbage and he had to listen to all your hateful words tear him apart bit by bit. But you know what else? He doesn’t hate you. Not at all. His avoiding you is more because he doesn’t know how to act with you anymore, and maybe a little bit that he doesn’t know what to expect from you. He’s just been laid bare in a way he never expected and needs some time to get his bearings before facing it. Give him that time. And try to be understanding when he does show up.” 

“What if we need help? He is still our whitelighter anyway,” Piper asked, looking for any reason to get him back into her life. 

“Just give him a break for now. If you truly need help, I have trackers on your family too, by his request, so I will know and either get him or help myself.” 

Piper’s eyes widened at that. “These trackers of yours…”

“All they tell me is your health status and location so you can be found if you’re hurt. That’s all,” he told her, very familiar with how some people feared that they were an invasion of privacy. 

“Okay. I guess that’s okay. I…Thank you Loki,” she stammered. Loki just nodded and disappeared. 

It was another few weeks before Chris turned up at the manor, looking sheepish and like he was about to be scolded. He was surprised to be greeted by a hug from his mother and an invitation to dinner. He blinked in surprise and found himself nodding his acceptance before he even realized he was doing it. Piper waited until they were sitting before she started the conversation, trying to both keep it light and show her acceptance of him as her son. “So, now that the big secret is out, is there anything I should know about this pregnancy?” 

Chris’ eyes widened. “Wh-what do you mean?” he asked worriedly. 

“Oh, you know. Are there any difficulties I should watch out for, maybe something I should do better, a demon I should avoid to prevent any trouble, the usual.” 

“Oh,” Chris let out a sigh of relief. “No one ever mentioned you being hurt at all while you were pregnant with me, but I know there were complications during the birth and you almost died, but Leo was able to heal you, so it was probably just one of those unpreventable things.” 

Piper nodded, unwilling to show her worry. “But you were okay?” she asked. When Chris nodded, she smiled. If she had to die for her son she would, but still, “So I’ll just make sure Leo is on hand when I go into labor. If nothing else, I could always just send Loki after him,” she said with a slight snicker, having heard from Leo about the abduction when Chris was hurt. Plus it was a way to bring Loki into the conversation. She wanted to know more about his relationship with her son. 

Chris winced at Loki’s name. “If he will,” he said cryptically. 

Piper raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think he would?” 

“He and I aren’t really speaking right now,” Chris told her. 

“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. Believe me, he does.” 

“How would you know?” Chris asked confused. 

“I’ve spoken to him twice recently. The first time was when he was telling us you needed to be conceived and he made it perfectly clear how much he cared by how upset he was at the way we had been treating you. Then I called him a couple weeks ago when you were ignoring me. He mentioned something about a tracker on you that he was monitoring so he knew you were okay and suggested I give you some space to get your bearings. I know he betrayed your trust by telling us who you were, but I’m glad he did.” 

“You…are?” Chris asked warily. 

“Yes. I am. If I had known, I never would have treated you the way I did, and not just because you’re my son. If you grew up with me, you should know how I react to people interfering with my family. You were a stranger, interfering with my family, and telling me that I failed as a mother, so I took it out on you because you weren’t family. I’m not saying it was right, but it’s a lot easier to blame a stranger for your own failings than it is a stranger. Does that make sense?” 

“You didn’t fail as a mother,” Chris told her. 

“Somehow, somewhere, I did. If Wyatt went evil, then I failed. If he was hurt or traumatized into it, then I failed. It’s my job as his mother to keep him safe. Seeing you though, knowing that you are my son too, it makes me feel better. You are a good man who is willing to risk everything and endure more than I ever could to protect your family and fight for goodness in not only yourself, but your brother too. That means I wasn’t a complete failure. I did something right too. And I’m sure that together, we can save your brother. One way or another.” 

Chris swallowed heavily. He felt like it was time to tell his mother the backup plan. He wouldn’t feel right to continue keeping it from her. “I…um…you should probably know…Loki has agreed…if we fail…if Wyatt does turn, and only if he does…Loki agreed to strip his powers. That way he can’t take over the world or use them to hurt people.” He misinterpreted the look on Piper’s face and rushed to explain. “That doesn’t mean we’re not going to do everything possible to prevent it. I still want my big brother powers and all the way he’s supposed to be. It’s just that we have a backup plan in case we fail.”

Piper reached out a put a hand on Chris’ arm. “I wasn’t criticizing, Chris. I agree with you. But only IF we fail and only when he shows signs of turning if we can’t turn him back.” Chris let out a sigh of relief as he nodded. That was the plan anyway. “But back to what we were talking about, maybe you should think about forgiving Loki?” 

Chris shrugged. “I don’t know. I trusted him and he…” 

“Made a judgement call when faced with the possibility of you not existing anymore. If that doesn’t show that he cares I don’t know what does. He was willing to risk you hating him for it, just to keep you here.” Chris sighed. He knew she was right. It had been so long though, he just didn’t know what to say anymore. Piper saw that she was winning and knew from experience how difficult it could be to take the first step, so in an effort at reconciliation, she made a suggestion. “How about I invite him for dinner tomorrow night. As a thank you for everything. Then you’re not on the spot and things can just flow.” 

Chris thought about it for a second before he nodded. “Okay. That will work. But no pressure please?” 

Piper smiled. “Pressure free. I promise. If you want to chat with him you can, but there won’t be any hints or pushing involved.”


	19. Chapter 19

Loki agreed to come to dinner, not realizing that Chris was going to be there. He had almost refused, but who was he to turn down a free meal. It might earn him a little more goodwill from the sisters as well, which might help him get closer to Chris again, so he accepted. He sat down at the table just as Chris orbed in and he noticed Chris hesitate before he sat next to him and gave him a welcoming smile, that Loki returned. 

Phoebe gasped and grabbed the chair in front of her for support as she lowered herself into it and looked between Chris and Loki. “What’s wrong, Phoebe?” Chris asked worriedly. 

“He…he loves you. He REALLY loves you,” Phoebe said, almost bowled over by the feelings. 

Loki’s eyes went wide. “Wh-what?...How…” 

“She’s an empath,” Piper said with a knowing grin. She had suspected something like that and now had it confirmed. Another reason she had wanted to get them all in the same room. Phoebe winced before Loki disappeared right from the table. Chris was still too stunned to speak. 

“What’s wrong?” Paige asked, noticing Phoebe’s wince. 

“It felt like having a door slammed in my face,” she told her. “It didn’t hurt, it was just…abrupt.” 

Piper felt her lips twitch slightly. “Maybe someone should have mentioned that you were an empath before,” she said amusedly, clearly not meaning it. 

“I…umm…I gotta…go…” Chris stammered out before orbing out straight from the table, and Piper lost the battle with her snickers. 

Chris orbed back to P3 to consider everything. He had come to the conclusion that Loki cared. He would have even believed that Loki cared more than he wanted to admit, but love? That was a big shock. Especially a strong enough love to knock Phoebe for a loop. He knew that he loved Loki. He had for a while, which is why it hurt so badly when he betrayed him, but now…this changed everything. He had only been there for about an hour before he orbed out. 

Chris reappeared in Loki’s house to find him pacing, his hair mussed up as though he’d spent most of the last hour running his hand through it, and Chris figured he actually had. Chris wasn’t sure what to say so he decided to just do. He grabbed Loki and kissed him slow and deep. Loki allowed it for a moment before he pushed away. “Chris…” he started wearily. 

“Loki, don’t. Don’t push me away. Not now. I love you. I have for a long time. That’s why I took everything so badly.”

“I don’t want you to forgive me just because of this,” Loki told him. 

“You mean because you love me?” Chris said leadingly, trying to get Loki to say the words, or at least acknowledge it. He got neither, so he continued. “I already forgave you before that Loki. That’s what the dinner was about. I forgave you, but I didn’t know where to start, so Piper agreed to invite you for dinner so I could face it in a more relaxed way.” 

Loki looked at him searchingly and Chris decided to take a chance and pulled him close for another kiss, and this time Loki didn’t push him away, but pulled him closer and when they broke for air, Chris said again, softly. “I love you, Loki.” 

“Me too, kid,” Loki said before capturing him in another kiss. This one was much shorter before Loki pulled back. “I don’t like being set up like that though,” he said pointedly. 

Chris looked sheepish. “It wasn’t so much a setup as it was just giving me a chance to clear the air with you without pressure.”

“I don’t mean that. I mean the empath,” Loki told him. 

Chris’ eyes widened as he realized what Loki thought. “No, no, no. That wasn’t meant to be a setup,” Chris protested. “I had no idea…”

“You didn’t know she was an empath?” Loki asked skeptically. 

“No, I knew that, but…”

“And you didn’t think to warn me? All the time we’ve spent together talking about them, and you never managed to slip that particular power into the conversation so I would know to block myself from them?” 

“I just…I figured you didn’t let anything show that you didn’t want to show, so I didn’t think I needed to. I mean, everything she’s ever gotten from you before were things that helped them trust you more, so I figured you were doing it on purpose.” 

“Well I wasn’t. Blocking empathy is something that I have to do consciously, and I don’t usually bother unless there is an empath around,” Loki told him. 

“Oh. Well. I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional though. I promise,” Chris said with a tone of both worried and hopeful. 

Loki snorted, but pulled Chris in for another kiss and the young witchlighter assumed that meant he was forgiven. That night, for the first time, the two spent the night together doing something other than sleeping as they put all their past troubles behind them. 

 

The next months went well. Loki and Chris became closer and closer and Loki knew that he was in for a tough fall when this was over, but he had come to the realization that it was worth it. It was rather surreal watching Piper’s pregnancy with Chris progress during all that though. The next big test they faced was when Piper was in labor, and Chris ended up getting stabbed with a blessed athame. Chris called for both Loki and Leo as he fell. Leo because he knew that Loki couldn’t heal and Loki because he knew that the god would never forgive him if he didn’t. 

“Heal him,” Loki snapped as it seemed that Leo was giving up. 

“I can’t,” Leo said heartbrokenly. 

“Well you damn well better find a way,” Loki ordered. 

“The only one that can is the elder that did this,” Leo told him. 

Loki nodded curtly. “Fine. You go take care of the baby version. I’ll handle this one from here.”

“He’s my son. I can’t just…”

“You have more than him to worry about right now. Since the elder has your other son too, I’ll retrieve him while I’m getting the elder. Now you get to the hospital. Nothing will touch either of them while I’m around,” Loki said dismissively before kissing Chris lightly and disappearing. 

“Go on…dad…Loki will…take care of it…don’t worry,” Chris croaked out. Leo still hesitated, but left anyway. 

Loki first went to the underworld. If he was off the radar of the other elders like Leo there were only so many places he could be and this was the most likely. He appeared in a random cavern and toasted a few demons that happened to be there before he expanded his senses to find Wyatt. His connection to the child would definitely come in handy now. It only took a moment to find him and when he saw him alone, he made himself invisible and waited a moment for the elder to follow and suppressed his laugh at how harried the elder looked. Seemed little Wyatt was running him ragged. Good kid. 

Loki grabbed the elder and turned to Wyatt. “Grab my leg, little one,” he said, and disappeared when he felt the tug that meant Wyatt had obeyed. He didn’t notice, nor would he have cared about the demon that he left behind watching the scene. He had what he came for. They appeared right next to the couch in the attic where they had placed Chris and Wyatt seemed to realize that he needed to be very very good right now so he orbed himself straight into his playpen to stay out of the way. He trusted Loki to take care of this. 

As soon as they appeared, Loki gripped the back of the elder’s neck painfully and said in a cold, dangerous voice. “You will heal him, completely, with no tricks, or I will make you beg for death. Understood.”

“If you will give me the boy,” the elder tried to bargain. 

“You are in no position to set terms, you piece of shit. Neither of these boys will ever be subjected to you again. Now HEAL HIM!” Loki let a burst of fire from the hand that was still gripping the elder’s neck causing the skin to crackle and blister as he let out a scream of pain. 

“You must understand. He is too powerful to live!” Gideon cried out through the pain. 

“No, YOU understand. There is a god in this world again now. The balance is mine to monitor. If he becomes a problem, I will deal with him in a way that doesn’t involve death. Now you will heal that one now, or I will make sure you regret it,” Loki hissed in anger as another burst of fire spread across Gideon’s shoulders. 

The elder whimpered pitifully as he fell to his knees beside Chris and began to heal. Once it was done, Loki did the ‘act of great evil’ required to bring the worlds back into balance and fried the elder like a pancake. He was fully prepared to go to heaven and keep frying them until the balance was regained, but he felt it settle into where it needed to be after this one died. It was still off, but not dangerously so. It could level itself from here, so he turned his attention to Chris who was just starting to sit up with wide eyes. 

Chris looked between Loki and Wyatt who was watching with wide eyes of his own. “Are you sure it was a good idea to let him see that?” Chris asked nervously, worried about too much violence being done in front of him. 

“To see those who harm innocents punished? Absolutely. He is a witch. Descended from gods. Violence will always be a part of his life. For him to see the right ones punished, will only help him,” Loki told him. When Chris nodded in acceptance, Loki snapped up some paper and a pen and scrawled a note. ‘Got the little one back and Chris is healed. We are at my home where I can protect them better. Just call for one of us when you get back.’ He signed the note with his sigil and sent it down to the table in the entryway so someone would see it as soon as they got back and took both Chris and Wyatt’s hands and transported them back to his house.


	20. Epilogue

It wasn’t long before Leo called them to come back and he took Wyatt to the hospital to meet his baby brother, leaving Loki and Chris alone. Loki sighed, and looked at Chris sadly. “I think it’s time for you to go home.”

“You want me to leave?” Chris asked, hurt. 

Loki shook his head. “No. Not at all. But keeping you here would be selfish. You’ve worked so hard for the life that baby is going to have, and you deserve to be able to enjoy it.”

Part of Chris wanted to deny that, but he actually listened to what Loki said. “What will happen to me, this me, when I get there. My memories and everything, I mean.” 

Loki gave a sad smile. “You won’t remember anything about the horrible life you led. You will merge with the new timeline and remember the life you worked for instead of this one. 

“Then I’m not going back,” Chris said stubbornly. 

“Huh?” Loki looked gobsmacked. 

“You said once that you would never leave if you couldn’t come back to me. Well the same goes for me. If I go there now, I won’t be the same person. I won’t remember loving you. That’s not an option for me. That baby can have that life. My place is with you. Always,” Chris said with surety. 

“You realize that you don’t have long to make this decision. Once that baby’s soul is settled in this reality, you won’t have a choice anymore. You’ll be stuck with these memories, wherever you are.” 

Chris nodded. “I didn’t know that, but that’s fine. My choice is already made. My mind won’t be changed.”

Loki took a deep breath. He knew that letting Chris do this was the epitome of selfish, but he couldn’t help himself. He could have forced the young witchlighter to go, but he didn’t have the strength. He’d tried and he would have to content himself with that. “Okay. Then I should take you into another plane for a week or so while the baby settles to avoid any potential paradoxes. Then we’ll come back and you will officially be a part of this timeline. Is that okay?” 

Chris nodded again. “Yeah. Let me just leave a note so no one worries,” he said already grabbing a pen and paper. He left the note on the table and took Loki’s hand. “Let’s go.” 

 

When they returned a week later and explained everything to the family, they quickly decided that until the kids were old enough to understand, Chris would be Piper’s brother and their uncle. They would explain things when they were older, if nothing else to explain why baby Chris looked exactly like his ‘uncle’. There was a bit of a ruckus with the elders about Loki’s interference, but Leo explained his neutrality and dedication to the balance. Loki still had to make an appearance and plead his case. In the end, he had to point out that he could easily wipe them all out without breaking a sweat and take this world for his own, but he didn’t want to. He just wanted to live in peace. Finally they saw reason and let him go without any fuss, but warned him that should he become an issue they would revisit the matter. Loki just let out a belly laugh and gave them a mocking salute as he disappeared. They all knew it was a bluff. 

Chris and Loki went on to get married in an ancient norse ceremony, giving Chris immortality with Loki and even had more than a few kids, a few dozen more steps closer to having true gods in the world again. The elders ended up moving against them, fearing the concentration of power that Loki was creating, but Loki just rolled his eyes and killed all who stood against him. There were a little less than half the elders left and he gave them the choice to keep up their rule or to die too. They chose to leave him alone, so thankfully Loki didn’t have to take control. He would eventually though, but it wouldn’t be for a few hundred more years and by then he mostly handed it off to his children and grandchildren and sat back and relaxed.


End file.
